Women Abuse Throughout the History

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SALEM MOHAMMED AL-JEFRI

Notice :- (if you want to say your opinion and comment about this research please feel free to write to this Email ([email protected]).

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(QURAN, chapter 20 verse 25)
May peace and salutation from God be upon all the prophets and messengers of God Amen

*** "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may recognize each other (Not that you despise each other). Verily, the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and well acquainted (With all things)" (Q 49:13)

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For some time ago , and as I have been passing in my way of learning English language and studying my comparative religion, I have heard a lot about the abuse of women and women rights and the controversy about the Issues of woman. Actually it was something natural to me that every human being should have his rights. But what gave me a shock is that some people are trying to say that Islam was responsible for women abuse in the past and present time, Especially those who came from the west or have studied or lived there. In fact, that was just the opposite of the result of my studies. This encouraged and enabled me to make a comprehensive research of woman abuse and I covered the issue from these aspects. 1234The abuse of woman in ancient ages. Women status in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, in comparative views. The abuse of woman in modern life . The factual conclusion.

It is undoubted that throughout history women have been loaded much more responsibilities and difficulties of everyday life than that of men. In every country you can hear the same story, from east to west. Starting from Japan and passing through China, India, Persia, Arabia, Greece, and Rome to France ending with some other western countries.

In Japan in the medieval ages, when it was influenced by Confucian teachings, women were treated much like servants. Her duty was to serve her husband and not even to eat with him. The delicious foods were only allotted for him. While they both (husband and wife) are walking, the wife can not walk beside him but behind him. In ancient China, woman for them was like sore water that wash away the happiness and wealth. The infant girl, when she had just been born, she would be put on the ground for three days to symbolize her low status. Also, it is a right for the Chinese man to sell his wife. If the wife became a widow she
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becomes the husband's family property. Furthermore, the Chinese man can bury his wife alive India, women were treated in subjection. Describing the status of the Indian women Encyclopedia Britannica states: In India, subjection was a cardinal principle . . . the rule of inheritance was agnatic, that is descent traced through males and females. In Hindu scriptures, the description of a good wife as follows: "a woman whose mind, speech and body are kept in subjection, acquires high renown in this world ,and in the next, the same abode with her husband. Also in the Indian teachings we read: "Not a long-suffering, wind, death, hell, poison, snakes, nor fire are worse than women." Indians thought that a man can't gain knowledge and wisdom unless he abandoned his family. In Manu law women have no right of dependence at all. It was common if her husband died she had to die in the same fire that her husband's body was burnt in. This habit lasted until the seventeenth century when it was outlawed unwillingly from the Indian religious men. About the Persians in their great old civilization men where allowed to marry their mothers and sisters was allowed. And when the woman is in the state of menstruation she was taken out of the city to a faraway place and nobody mixed them except those who serve food to them. In addition, a Persian woman was under the man's unlimited authority that he can sentence her to death or grant her life. In Ancient Arabia, people used to bury their young daughters alive out of shame. This cruel action was condemned by the Prophet Muhammad –peace be upon him- when he was sent by God. Instead, the Prophet encouraged Arabs to love their daughters and to treat their children sons and daughters equally .he exemplified her as a cover for her father from the hellfire. And even promised that if someone had a daughter and took care of her that he is going to live peacefully in paradise. That was in the East. There was no big difference in the West. The Greeks (who are supposed to be the source of today's democracy and freedom in the West) are not like what the today laymen think. Democracy and freedom in Greece were only limited to the male Greeks. Two people were considered low human class to them: the non-Greeks and females. The great Greek philosophers (like Aristotle, Socrates and Plato), who are viewed as heroes in the West, were actually just like Christopher Columbus, who discovered the American continent. Columbus was a murderer and made a great massacre to the original people of America (which was worse than what Hitler did to the Jews). But instead of viewing him as a big criminal, the West until today
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celebrates his discovery and exalts him as a hero. The same thing happened with the Greek philosophers. In the first chapter of her book, "Lifting the Veil: the Feminine Face of Science" Dr. Linda Jean (1993) showed what Aristotle (384-322 BC) thought and wrote about women. Aristotle taught that the heaven which is high and infinite is representing the male. While the female is represented by the earth which is low, down and corrupt. He presented the relationship between male and female as the relationship of a master and his slave. Aristotle went further to say that women are actually deformed men by birth. Women were not only a deficient male but they has an animal spirit too, as Aristotle pointed. As we see here that Aristotle put women in the level between humans and animals. We have to remember that Aristotle and his ideas are the basis of the European mentality for about 2000 years. Plato (428-347 BC), who was the teacher of Aristotle, had a little better view on women. But still he was having the idea of women inferiority. Women to him are without souls and actually are the reincarnation of fallen and wicked men in a previous life. In his Timaeus, Plato said: It is only males who are created directly by the gods and are given souls. Those who live rightly return to the stars, but those who are ‗cowards‘ or lead unrighteous lives may with reason be supposed to have changed into the nature of women in the second generation. Plato did not just see women as a state between men and animals as Aristotle thought, but he thought of women as a state between man and devil! Plato said again in his Timaeus: He who lived well during his appointed time was to return and dwell in his native star, and there he would have a blessed and congenial existence. But if he failed in attaining this, at the second birth he would pass into a woman, and if, when in that state of being, he did not desist from evil, he would continually be changed into some brute who resembled him in the evil nature which he had acquired. A person who is without a soul and a result of sins as well as one level above the devilish beings supposed to be away from virtues Actually, this is what Plato concluded in his Laws about women. He said: "Woman's nature is inferior to that of men in capacity for virtue." Before Aristotle and Plato were other great Greek philosophers, like Socrates and Pythagoras, who stood at the same line of looking down at women. In his
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book "A Woman's Place?" Dr. C. S. Cowles (Professor of Religion in Point Loma Nazarene University) quoted what these philosophers said about women. Professor Cowles said: Pythagoras (ca. 580-500 B.C.) one of the earliest Greek philosophers, wrote, "There is a good principle which created order, light and man, and an evil principle which created chaos, darkness and woman." Socrates (ca. 470-399 B.C.) described women as "the weaker sex" and taught that they were halfway between a man and an animal. He asked, "Do you know anything at all practiced among mankind, in which in all these respects the male sex is not far better than the female?" . . . The ideal woman, according to Xylophone, a contemporary of Aristotle, was one who "might see as little as possible, hear as little as possible, and ask as little as possible." A friend of Xylophone described his wife in these terms: "She was not yet fifteen when I introduced her to my house, and she had been brought up always under the strictest supervision; as far as could be managed, she had not been allowed to see anything, hear anything or ask any questions." As I said before, if Columbus killed many American souls, the Greek philosophers killed women's souls. When the Romans succeeded the Greeks, still women were under the natural level of humanity. Like the Greeks and Indians, she did not have the right to own a property. In the Encyclopedia of Britannica, we find a summary of the legal status of women in the Roman civilization: In Roman law a woman was even in historic times completely independent. If married, she and her property passed into the power of her husband, and like a slave acquired only for his benefit. A woman could not exercise any civil or public office … could not be a witness, surety, tutor, or curator. She should not adopt or be adopted, or make will or contract. Do not think that this way of treating women was lasting with the Romans. It continued up to the medieval ages and to the Renaissance age. In France, for example, women did not have personal financial rights until 1938. In UK, women could not have to own a property except after 1882. Centuries before,

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British women could be sold by her husband as a slave in the market. Between 5th and 11th centuries.

Here we are supposed to see a scholastic view of women status in these religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) then we can judge and distinguish easily which one gave women their rights as human being. but before this I want to emphasize here that what we are dealing with, has nothing to do with the people (who hold and believe in this or that religion) because there is a rule that says : (A religion is a proof against its adherent, but not the reverse ) and that simply means that if you see a man committing a crime you have no right to judge that this is his religion's teaching , in other words the religion is not its believers .And to make it clear we say, if a believer, of any religion, commit a sin, he is responsible for it not his religion. For example some of The Jews and the Christian read in their scriptures the prohibition of adultery but they do it freely and they name it dating or girlfriend. To us whatever you call it, it remain a great dirty sin likewise the change of Alcoholic drinks it is given a wonderful name (spiritual drinks) but it remains Alcohol. So certainly that is not from their religion's teaching, while there are Muslim who think terrorism is a part of Islam and you are not a perfect Muslim if you don't terrify the non-Muslim ( of course if he isn't aggressor ) and we say Islam is free from this misconception and others a lot. So what I am saying now is that in this chapter we are dealing with these great religions not with the behavior of its people nor with the poetical games that are going on the world and that is a very big and common misconception that is widespread among the people nowadays .

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In Judaism (the teachings of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible), husband and wife are united in love. We read, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh." (Genesis 2: 24) The Old Testament as it teaches that man and woman are one in love it teaches also that they are not one in states. Male is superior to female. Actually, the discrimination against women starts as soon as they are born. If the born child is boy, his mother stays unclean for only one week. While if the child is a girl, her mother is unclean for two weeks, not only one week like the boys! Furthermore, the mother, if her child is a son, has to wait for 33 days until she is purified from bleeding. But if the child is a daughter then the mother has to wait for double of the boy's time waiting, which is 66 days! Here is the passage: "The LORD said to Moses, Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding." (Leviticus 12: 1-5) The girl as a daughter is not treated like the boy. A man can sell his own daughter into slavery! In Exodus 21: 7 we read: "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do." The Christian scholar Adam Clarke, in his "Commentary on the Bible" tried to justify this biblical teaching by simplifying this slavery to 6 years! He said, "It may appear at first view strange that such a law should have been given; but let it be remembered, that this servitude could extend, at the utmost, only to six years." While many Christians today would consider this an abhorrent act, in the eyes of Adam Clarke that it is a godly as well as humanitarian action for a father to earn money by selling his daughter for half a dozen years! The persecution of the daughter goes on. If a man raped a girl, she is forcibly married to the one who raped her and she has to be his for the remainder of her life: "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives." (Deuteronomy 22: 28-29)
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So, the rapist only has to pay fifty shekels of silver (to her father and not for the rapped girl!) without any punishment for this offensive crime. On the contrary, he will enjoy marring the girl whom he raped and she is forced to suffer marrying him. While if a girl gets married to someone and in the first night she was discovered to be not virgin, she has to be stoned to death: "If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found [when a man marry her], she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death." (Deuteronomy 22: 20-21) What if she was not virgin because she had been raped? What if her virginity was injured by mistake? As for the case of a Jewish priest; if his daughter committed fornication, she is to be burnt alive. This case is not to be done with the priest's son: "If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire." (Leviticus 21: 9) Also there is different between a brother and sister. The priest cannot touch any dead body nor attend any funeral except for his close relatives. It is ok for a dead brother but not for his own unmarried sister! We read: "A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die, except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother, or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband-- for her he may make himself unclean." (Leviticus 21: 1-3) As a wife, she is to submit to her man. He has control over her. In the Bible we read about the role of the wife: "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." (Genesis 3: 16) The woman actually was treated like inherited items. If her husband dies, she cannot freely marry anyone. She is inherited to his brother: "If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her." (Deuteronomy 25: 5) If a woman was divorced then she married another man, then she becomes widowed or divorced again by the second man, then she cannot return back to her first husband if she wished because she is unclean. But the man who has divorced a second woman he can remarry his first wife because he is clean: "If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of
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divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance." (Deuteronomy 24: 1-4) While this practice is now considered obsolete once, if a man suspected his wife of being adulterous, he could find it out through superstitious means. While if a woman suspects her husband she had no right to do anything. Look at the following superstition used: "Then the LORD said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure--or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure-- then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt. 'The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD. Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, "If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband"-- here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath--"may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away. "" 'Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it." 'The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering. The priest is to take from her hands the
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grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar. The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, and she will become accursed among her people. If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children." (Numbers 5 : 11-28) In his book "A Woman's Place?" (1993) Dr. C.S. Cowles (Professor of Religion in Point Loma Nazarene University) made a brief view on the women status in Judaism; he said (pp. 46-50): "A Jewish woman had the legal status of a slave and was regarded as a possession of her father and then of her husband. She had no legal rights of her own. This was based on a rabbinical interpretation of the 10th commandment, which reads: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17, NASB). A woman thus had the same status as a house, slave, ox, and donkey. She was denied any education other than learning domestic arts. She could not receive an inheritance nor keep any money she earned . . . She was not permitted to eat with him [i.e. her husband] but was to remain standing behind him while he ate . . . She had to turn over to him all money earned from manual work. She rendered to her husband unquestioning and absolute obedience in all things. This was a religious duty. Children were commanded to put respect for their father before that of their mother. If the family's life was in danger, the husband was to be saved first, sons second, then mother and daughters . . . Women had no civil rights, nor could they serve as witnesses in legal proceedings. Women were regularly described as being in the same class with Gentile slaves and minor children. Jewish literature is full of expressions of joy over the birth of a son and sorrow over the birth of a daughter. Two hundred years before Christ, Jesus ben Sirach lamented the excessive burdens a father had to bear over his daughter. He concluded, "Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; and it is a woman who brings shame and disgrace." A rabbinic verse-by-verse commentary on Genesis describes women as "greedy, eavesdroppers, lazy, and jealous . . . also querulous and garrulous." . . . Rabbi Judah encouraged Jewish males to utter three thanksgivings daily: "Blessed be He who did not make me a Gentile ... a woman ... a boor [ignorant of the law]." Another
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version of that popular prayer went, "Blessed be He who did not make me a Gentile, a dog, a woman" — in that order."

The New Testament contains several compassionate verses in regards to the male-female relationship. For example, we read: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Ephesians 5: 25) However, upon closer inspection, it would seem that this relationship isn't as rosy as many people would expect. For example, many Christians think that the Bible teaches equality between man and woman. Actually, men and women are equal in their relationship with God. But in the case of relationship between husband and wife, the Bible teaches that the man enjoys higher rank than woman. It is similar to the relationship between a master and his slave. In fact, when Christianity came, it did not change previous Judaic women's status much. Still, it would seem that women have to submit to man who is considered her master. We read in the New Testament of the Bible: "Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands . . . For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master." (1 Peter 3: 1-3) This women's subjugation to men has to be in everything just like a slave to his master: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5: 22-24) The Bible asks women to demonstrate a sign of their low status. They have to cover their head as a symbol of their subjugation. St. Paul said: "Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God . . . And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head--it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God;
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but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. . . . Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?" (1 Corinthians 11: 3-13) About these biblical verses, the Christian biblical commentator Albert Barnes said in his "Notes on the Bible": "it was regarded everywhere as dishonorable and improper for a woman to lay aside the appropriate symbol of her sex, and the emblem of subordination, and to be uncovered in the presence of the man 1Co_11:35; that if a woman was not veiled, if she laid aside the appropriate emblem of her sex and of her subordinate condition, she might as well part with her hair, which all knew would be dishonorable and improper 1Co_11:6; that the woman had been created for a subordinate station, and should observe it 1Co_11:7-9" He also said on his comment on the verse 7: "She was made for him; she was made after he was; she was taken from him, and was ―bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.‖ . . . This, therefore, ought to be acknowledged by a suitable manner of attire; and in his presence this sense of her inferiority of rank and subordination should be acknowledged by the customary use of the veil." John Gill who was another biblical Christian expositor has explained why God commanded women to wear veils, he noted in the verse 7: "Since being first in the transgression, she who is man's glory has been the means of his shame and disgrace." And in regards to verse 10 he said: "The Hebrew name of the veil signifies dependence." While the theological scholar John Wesley said in his comment on the verse 7 (in his "Explanatory Notes"): "But the woman is only matter of glory to the man, who has a becoming dominion over her. Therefore she ought not to appear, but with her head veiled, as a tacit acknowledgment of it." Regarding verse 9, the well-known Christian commentator Matthew Henry said: "She was naturally, therefore, made subject to him, because made for him, for his use, and help, and comfort. And she who was intended to be
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always in subjection to the man should do nothing, in Christian assemblies, that looks like an affectation of equality." Christians nowadays are often accused of having forsaken their religious practices and biblical teachings in favor of the secular ideology. So, many argue that Christians now refuse to follow the biblical teachings claiming that the woman's veil and her subjection to the man was just an old custom and culture. While St. Paul clearly stated that the veil and women submission to men is supposed to be the character of good Christian woman. He declared that the woman has to submit to her husband not because of culture but because: 1- God is the head of the Christ, and Christ is the head of the man, and man is the head of the woman (which means God is the first rank then second is Jesus then in the third rank is the man then after him as last rank is woman). (1 Corinthians 11 : 3) 2- "Man is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man." (1 Corinthians 11 : 7) 3- "For man did not come from woman, but woman from man." (1 Corinthians 11 : 8) 4- For man was not "created for woman, but woman for man." (1 Corinthians 11 : 9) 5- "For Adam was formed first, then Eve." (1 Timothy 2 : 13) 6- For "Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." (1 Timothy 2 : 14) Because of these biblical teachings, the Christians were blaming women for centuries for being responsible of the Original Sin. In the fifth century, Saint Augustine (one of the famous Church Fathers) said: "What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother; it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman... I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children." Therefore, the New Testament taught that women have neither to teach men nor to teach in the Church. She has to keep quite like a child. St. Paul said: "Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church." (1 Corinthians 14: 3435)
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We read in the Bible also: "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." (1 Timothy 2 : 11-14) So, it could easily be interpreted that according to the teachings of the Bible, the educated women of today as teachers, lawyers, preachers . . . etc. are considered sinners if they approach men. Matthew Henry in his commentary on Ch.11 of 1 Corinthians said: "Though she might not preach even by inspiration (because teaching is the business of a superior)."

According to the Judo-Christian Scriptures as well as the Quran mankind is created from Adam and Eve, we read in the holy Quran (Chapter 4: verse1)." O mankind! Fear your lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women". In this Quranic verse is stated that the source of mankind is a man and woman. When human life began in the earth the woman was the other part of life. The purpose of the creation of all mankind is to worship the almighty God. So man and woman have the same purpose of life, also they are same and equal in the worshiping duties, but with regard to the system of life man and woman have different duties. Islam teaches that man and woman are equal in status. The Prophet Muhammad said, "Women are equal sisters of men." But in Islam, also, each of them is given which suits his nature, because man and woman are not identical according to the Quran 3:36"And the male is not like the female" this fact is given in the holy Quran before fourteen hundred years ago. Now the advanced medicine confirms what God said in the holy Quran about the differences between man and woman (physically, emotionally, mentally, and in their desires) they differ from each other in all these aspects. Of course these differences have no connection with superiority or inferiority, the meaning is that each one has his own way in life. Islam gave the man and the woman their duties in life system according to his
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nature ability. For instance God created man stronger than woman that suite his duty in the struggle of life, at the same time God provide woman with more emotion that will help her in the duty of motherhood. This makes it clear that Islam is a religion which has a very connected system that if you look at it from one side leaving the other one, then you are misguided to get the right concept and the true picture of it and its laws. The same thing goes with regards to the woman status in Islam. . When speaking or writing about the Islamic position on any issue, one ought to clearly differentiate between the normative teaching of Islam and the diversity of cultural practices prevalent among its adherents that may or may not be consistent with those teaching. 1-Both man and woman have the same spiritual duty which is to believe in God and his messengers, God created man and woman and then spread many men and women from them for the purpose of worshipping him. The more God-fearing the individual is the best in the sight of Allah. That means both are responsible before God for the religious duties. 2- GOD (Allah) has invested both genders with inherent dignity and has made men and women, collectively, the trustees of Allah on earth (Quran17:70 and 2:30). 3- The Quran dose not blame the woman for the "fall of man" (the original sin of Adam) nor did it view pregnancy and childbirth as a punishments for "eating from the forbidden tree." The Qumran depicts both Adam and Eve as equally responsible for their sin in the Garden, never singling out Eve for blame. Both repented and both were forgiven (Q 2:36-37 and 7:19-27). On the contrary, in one verse (Q 20:121), Adam in particular was blamed. The Quran also consider pregnancy and childbirth as sufficient reasons for the love and respect due to mothers from childbirth (Q 31:14 and 46:15). 4- Man and woman have the same religious and moral duties and responsibilities, and both get the same reward. Each human shall face the consequences of his or her deeds:" And their lord responded to them, (saying):"Never will I allow to be lost the work of (any) worker among you, whether male or female; you are of one another…" (Q 3:195) "Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and
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the believing women, the obedient men and the obedient women, the truthful men and the truthful women, the patient men and the patient women, the humble men and the humble women, the chartable men and the chartable women, the fasting men and the fasting women, the men who guard their private part (from unlawful acts and the women who do so- for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and great reward." (Q 33:35) see also 74:38, 16:97, 4:124, 40:40, and 57:12). 5- The Quran is clear about the issue of the claimed superiority or inferiority of any human, male or female, The sole basis of superiority of any person over another is piety and righteousness, not gender, color, nationality or social status (Q 49:13). 6- The absence of women as prophets and messengers of Allah throughout the history is because of the hardships and the physical suffering associated with the role of a messenger or prophet. The prophethood is the heaviest troublesome could human being ever hold. The women absence is out of mercy upon her, it is absolutely not because of any spiritual inferiority attributed to them. 7- In terms of religious obligations, such as the five daily prayers (salah), fasting, poor-due, and pilgrimage, woman is no different from man. In some cases, indeed, woman has certain advantages over man. For example, the woman is exempted from the daily prayers and from the fasting in the month of Ramadan during her menstrual periods and up to forty days after childbirth (or up to 60 days according to al-shafie juristic view). She is also exempted from fasting during pregnancy from fasting during pregnancy and when she is nursing her baby if there is any threat to her health or her child's. She can make up for the missed days of fasting at convenience. She dose not have to make up prayers missed during menstruation and postpartum bleeding. Although women may pray in the mosque (and did so during the days of the prophet Mohammed and thereafter), attendance at Friday congregational prayers is optional for them while it is obligatory for men. The economic aspects:-

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1- The right to possess personal property: Islam decreed a right of which woman was deprived both before and after it (even as late as the 20th century), the right of independent ownership. The shariah (Islamic law) recognizes the full property rights of women before and after marriage. The may buy, sell or lease nay or all of their properties at will. For this reason, Muslim women have traditionally kept their own family names after marriage, an indication of their independent property rights legal entities. 2-Financial security: Financial security is assured for women. They are entitled to receive martial gifts without limit and to keep present and future properties and income for their own security, even after marriage. No married woman is required to spend any amount from her property or income on household. The woman is entitled also to full financial support during the "waiting period" (iddah) in case of divorce or widowhood. Thereafter, her nearest male relative responsible for her maintenance until she remarries then the responsibility turn to the husband. A woman who conceives a child within marriage is entitled to child support from the father. Generally, a Muslim woman is guaranteed support in all stages of her life, as a daughter, wife, mother or sister. 3- Inheritance laws: A common but erroneous belief is that as a rule, the woman's share of inheritance is half of the man's share. In fact, a woman may inherit more than, equal to or less than the man. The determining factor is her relation to the deceased. There are many examples of these three different scenarios. They can not be all covered in a short article; hence the following examples are given for clarification: When her share is more than the man: 1- A woman dies and leaves behind a daughter and a husband. The daughter gets half her mother estate. While the husband gets one quarter, i.e., the daughter gets double her father's share (Q 4:11-12) 2- A woman dies and leaves behind a husband, a mother, two full brothers and a half sister from her mother. Her one half gets sixth
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of the estate while both brothers share in one sixth i.e., the half sister gets the double of each of the woman's brothers. 3- A woman dies and leaves behind a husband, a full sister and a half brother from her father. The husband gets half the estate and her sister gets the remaining half after the husband, while her half brother is excluded and gets nothing, However, if instead of that brother there was a half sister form the father, then she would get one sixth, i.e., the half sister from the father gets a share, while the half brother from the father gets nothing. When her share equal to the man: 1- a child dies and is survived by both his/her parents. The mother gets a share equal to that of the father if their child has children one sixth each. (Q 4:11). 2- A man or a woman dies leaving neither ascendants nor descendants but has a half brother and a half sister from the mother; each one gets one sixth of the estate. If there are more than two, then they all share equally in one third of the estate, i.e., the sister gets an equal share to that of the brother (Q 4:12). When her share less than the man: A parent dies and leaves behind son(s) and daughter(s); the daughter gets half the share of the brother (Q 4:11). As we went over the previous rules of inheritance according to the Islamic law there is a balance. Some people may wonder why daughter half of the son in this case, but if they studied the case they can see the balance that only show the advantages which woman has over man in Islam. For example in this case the son inherits more the daughter because the advantages accorded to women over men in marriage and in family have a social counterpart. Males inherit more but ultimately they are by law financially responsible for many of their relatives: wives, children, parents, if in need, young brothers and sisters if they have no income and no other person to provide for them and in some cases other needy male and female relatives. Females inherit less but may retain their shares for investment and financial security without any
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legal obligation to spend any of it on themselves or nay one else, unless they do so voluntarily. To exemplify that the woman has the advantage in the Islamic law, and to make it even clearer we study this example: ( A man dies and leaves behind children [son and daughter] and left estate for them 3000$, in the light of the Islamic law the daughter takes one thousand dollars and the son takes two thousand. Supposed they are at the doors of marriage. If the son wants to get married he is to pay the marriage gift [The dowry] as a duty to the bride, and let us say it was 2000$ only, now he paid all what he inherited from his father, and when he gets married the financial responsibility of his wife is started. If the daughter got married she is to get the marriage gift as a right of her. Now, she inherited one thousand from her father. And let us say the marriage gift is 2000$, she has 3000$, then she is not asked to spend a cent of her money no matter how rich she is, because her residence and life expenses are her husband's responsibility as she is his wife. We can see than the daughter's money increased while the son's money decreased. The daughter's inheritance remained while the son inheritance lost in new expenses of his wife. Now who has the advantage the son or the daughter!!). It should be noted that in pre-Islamic society, women themselves were often inherited objects. (See Q 4:19) In some western countries, even after the advent of Islam, the whole of the deceased passed on to the eldest son. The Quran made it clear that both man and woman are entitled to specified share of the estate of their deceased parents or relatives: "For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much an obligatory share" (Q 4:19) 3- Employment: with regard to the woman's right to seek employment, it should first be stated that Islam regards her role in society as mother and wife to be her most and essential one. Maids and baby sitters cannot possibly take the mother's place as educator of an upright, complex-free and carefully-reared child. Such a noble and vital role, which largely shapes the future of nations, Cannot be regarded as "idleness". However, there is no decree in
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Islam that forbids woman from seeking employment whenever there is necessity for it. Moreover, there is no restriction on benefiting from women's exceptional talents in any field. Some early jurists, such as Abu-Hanifah, At-tabari and Ibn-Hazm, uphold that a qualified Muslim woman may be appointed to the position of judge. Other jurists hold different opinions. Omar the second caliph after Prophet Muhammad, appointed a woman (ash-shifaa' bint Abdullah al-adawiyah) as marketplace supervisor, a position is equivalent in our world to director of the consumer protection department. In the 20th century a lot of woman made the employment their essential duty in life living the home duties to the dust, though this mostly happen in the western countries, but it also happen in the Muslim countries by some woman who are appealed to the western woman and tried to imitate her. Let us study these statistics and see what happens when the woman leaves her duty of life:
1-In America"22.4% only of the married women take care about their children and homes, the others are employees."

www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsUS.shtml

2-In Britain" two third of the children do not get the daily care from their mothers." 3- In France"71% of the children do not get the daily care from their mothers." 4- In Germany"9 in 10 of the children under the age of three do not get the daily care of their mothers."

The economic cooperation& development organization 2001( The Time American magazine 2006)

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5- In Canada"25% of the boys under the age of fifteen suffer depression and sadness at least once a weak." 6- In Canada"39% of the girls under the age of fifteen suffer depression and sadness at least once a weak."

Tipper, Jennifer. The Canadian Girl Child: Determinants of the Health and Well-Being of Girls and Young Women. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Institute of Child Health, September 1997.

7- In Canada"60% of the boys who live with their parents feel a deep sadness" 8- In Canada"72% of the girls who live with their parents feel a deep sadness" 9- In Canada "1% of the boys hurt themselves deliberately out of depression" 10- In Canad"18% of the girls hurt themselves deliberately out of depression"

Statistics, Canada. Health Reports, (1996)
11- In American "because the parents are busy with their jobs, Children come back homes from their schools and close the door in fear or go out to create problems or become victims of crimes."

An article of Florida university in the title of " Taking Back The Neighborhood" July 16, 1997 www.napa.ufl.edu/oldnews/safe.htm This is a quick picture for the suffering of the children in the world from those mothers who have abandoned their duty of life, or may be they are too great for their duty. Any way, the created problems of these women, who see the employment his more important than the duty of motherhood. And if you look in these women's life from the very face of it, directly you consider how tired and nervous in their life they are. God has given the woman the task of bearing the child, then giving birth which strain their bodies, and some even die from it, after that the feeding period of child from her body, all these things, of which no one thing the man do, are not considered. Women have to
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work same as the man does! What is stranger? Is that a lot of women are interested by the Idea. The social aspect :A) As a daughter: The Quran ended the cruel pre-Islamic practice of female infanticide with the threat:" And when the girl {who was} buried alive is asked, for what sin she was killed" (Q 81:8-9). The Quran went further to rebuke the unwelcoming attitude of some parents upon hearing the news of the birth of the girl instead of a boy. "And when one of them is informed of [The birth of] a female, his face becomes dark, and he suppresses grief. He hides himself from the people of the ill of which he has been informed. Should he keep it in humiliation or bury it in the ground? Unquestionably, evil is what they decide." (Q 16:58-59) Parents are duty-bound to support and show kindness and justice to their daughters. Prophet Muhammad said: "whoever has a daughter and dose not bury her alive, dose not insult her, and dose not favor, his son over her, Allah will admit into paradise;" and" whoever support two daughters until they mature, he and I will come on the day of judgment thus(and he pointed with his two fingers held together)." (Both hadeeths narrated by Ahmad) A crucial aspect in the upbringing of daughters that greatly influence their future is education. Education is not only a right but also a responsibility for all males and females. Prophet Muhammad [peace and blessing be upon him] said:" seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim." (Narrated by al-Byhaqi and Ibn Majah) B) AS a wife: Marriage in Islam is based on mutual peace, love and compassion, and not the mere satisfying of human sexual desire [in Islam sexual relations are only allowed within marriage]. Among the most impressive verses in the Quran about marriage is the following: "And of his signs is: that he created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you

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affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought."(Q 30:21 see also 42:11 and 2:228) The female has the right to accept or reject the marriage proposals. According to Islamic shariah (law), a woman can not be forced to marry anyone without her consent. The husband the overall leadership (the Qiwamah in the Islamic terminology) in the family form, which means the total responsibility of the family (from Financial aspect, to the maintenance, protection, and health of the family), within the framework of consultation (Q 2:233) and kindness (Q 4:19). The mutuality of husband and wife dose not mean "subservience" by either party to the other. Prophet Muhammad instructed Muslims regarding women: "I commend you to be kind to women ;"( Narrated by alBukhari and Muslim) and he said: "The best of you is ht best to his wife" (Narrated by at-Termdhi). The Quran urges husbands to be kind and considerate to their wives, even if a wife falls out of favor with her husband or disinclination for her arises with him: "And live with in kindness." For if you dislike them; perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good" (Q 4:19). No one can deny the necessity of the leadership in the family, because there is no successful company in the world without a director, and the family is a small company, having to leaders in one place is like having two drivers in one car, each one wants his way. Of course the result of two drivers is accident which is here a divorce. Islam gave the leadership to the man in the Muslim family out of mercy upon the family, especially the woman (if the husband and the wife realized that). For so many reasons I will just mention some of them: 1. Because of the duties that relate to the leadership like the hard work, and the man is stronger than the woman. The woman gets strained from a certain job more than the man. Dr. Paul Pabino (the founder of the family relationships American center) said in the book named (If He only knew): "The man is stronger than the woman, the man muscles weight 40% of his body weight. While the woman muscles weight 23% of her body weight. He added that the Red Blood Cells in the woman body are less 20% than the man body. The red cells that
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provides the body with Oxygen, for that the woman tire faster than the man and she is subjected to fainting and stress more than the man is. He also said that the woman's lung is smaller than the man's lung and that the (vital capacity) in the woman is much less than it is in the man." 2. The woman passes through changes in her body while the man dose not, such as childbirth, confinement and menstruation periods. It is enough for us to know that the woman tires in her menstruation period, she pass through a lot of disturbances in her body (psychological and nervous changes, because of the hormone's changes, such as the decreasing of oxytocin) one weak a month, which means quarter of her age! With the hard work inside and out side the house (Especially in the countries that force the woman to work, she is subjected to psychological stresses. (The Society for Women's health research) [it is American Society] tells us in its main website that: " the women which get depression equals two or three times the depressed men". And you read in The American news papers The " New York Times" in July.1997 in the title (health watch: Women under stress):" ask any woman fall into a job and the challenges of the house tasks, if she is sincere then there is a chance for her to admit that she is suffering from a life full of depression and stresses". We also read An Article in the main website of The (Harvard Medical School) it said:( psychological compression is the feeling that you get when you try to balance between the increasing duties of the job and the endless works of the family). When the woman find herself sounded in that size of suffering she become obliged to do one of three things: (A) she neglects her job or leave it and care more about her children( especially when it is hard) (B) she ignores her house and children (C) she carry all things and always carry in her bug pills and tranquilizers, with frequent visits to psychologist. Sadly, a lot of women under the stress of life willingly or not they overlooked their children, and paid no enough attention to them, as we saw in the previous statistic studies. God will question those women who lost their
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motherhood's compassion, about being unjust for their innocent children, for the sake of competing men in the name of equality. For me it is not equality, no more than selfishness. 3. The man in general has more roughness and guts (from the psychological side) than the woman, that enable him to engage in rough and hard works. 4. God gave the man the Qiwamah [the responsibility of the family ] to save the woman from these things: A- From facing the tough works that destroy her body and beauty. B- From the confusion and stresses from the motherhood duties and the outside work duties. C- From the sexual abuse that woman (who works in mixed sexes places) can face daily [as we will see in the section of modern abuse]. I say to some pretending men to call for the (Equality) if you want us, men and women, to be alike in every thing, why do not you first do what the woman do of giving birth and all the other great motherhood duties after that we can discuss about equality! And I say to the women who are appealed to this shining word (equality), sister would you consider these realistic points I gave you. Is it equality when the western women is forced to work as the man, while she by her nature can not help holding the duties of her motherhood, adding to her heavy task another one. If that is the equality that the woman wants then she deserves what you face. In Islam the man is forced to work, while the woman has the option if there is a need, this is the mercy upon the Muslim woman. It is also outlawed the pre-Islamic Arabian practice whereby the sons of the deceased inherited their father's widow(s) (their stepmothers) as if they were part of the estate. (Q 4:19). Should marital disputes arise, the Quran encourage couples to resolve them privately in a spirit of fairness and probity. Under no circumstances dose the Quran encourage, allow, or condone family violence or physical abuse. In the extreme case of rebellious wife, and
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whenever a great harm, such as divorce, is a likely option, it allows for a husband to administer a benign slap to his wife in a way that dose not touch the face, causes no physical harm to the body nor leaves any sort of mark, making it more of symbolic measure than a punitive one. It is no more than psychological warning that sound the alarm of the about broken home. It may serve, in some cases, to bring to the wife attention the seriousness of her continued unreasonable behavior, and may be restored to only after exhausting other steps outlined in the Quran in 4:34. This solution is considered as the last resort to prevent the marriage from collapsing. But the original rule for all the Muslims is to follow their model example the prophet Muhammad -peace be upon him- he never ever hit any of his wives or any woman, on the contrary, he said: "They are not the best of you who hit their wives". (Narrated by Abu-Dawud). In the event that disputes cannot be resolved equitably between husband and wife in private, The Quran prescribes mediation between the parties through family intervention on behalf of spouses, two judges one from the husband family, and one from the wife family, in that way, the Quran outline an enlightened approach for the husband and wife to resolve persistent conflict in their marital life. It is stated in that verse that if they both seek to set things aright, and wish for peace, Allah will cause their reconciliation. Though a lot of people try to say bad thing about Islam in this point, but no one can deny that to save the marriage is better than to break it. Always the Islamic law (shariah) is seeking to save the marriage from collapsing. There is a rule which said (remove the big harm by the less) when there is no other solutions of course. In this point the big harm is divorce, and the less is the psychological alarming. People in their psychology are different from one another. There are people who kind words can work with them while others do not understand this language, but by psychological scolding, and some other by physical abuse, this is a fact. If not then all the countries are unjust, there should be no prisons no punishments because all criminals can be corrected by kind words! The way of seeing this solution is more like the way of looking to the solution of Polygamy in Islam, some women see that it is against their rights. So they get misconception of it, while in reality when one see it from all aspects, he can see God is providing
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us with normal solution to our normal problem for the good of human being in general [this issue discussed later]. Divorce is the last resort, when there are no hopes to save the house of marriage from collapsing. When all the solutions and interventions have failed, divorce is permissible but not encouraged. Yet the Quran gives preference to the preservation of faith and the male and the female individual's right to felicity. Forms of marriage dissolutions include: (a) an enactment based upon mutual agreement, (b) The husband initiative, (c) the wife initiative (if included in her, marital contract), (d) The court's decision on a wife's initiative for a legitimate reason (e.g. the husband's failure to support his wife, impotence or abuse), and (e) the wife's initiative (khula , or divestiture) in cases in which there is "no fault" on the part of the husband but she dislikes him. This requires that she return her marriage gift or similar compensation. When the continuation of the relationship is impossible for any reason, men are still taught in the Quran to seek a gracious end to it. The Quran states: "And when you divorce women and they have [nearly] fulfilled their terms [i.e. waiting period] either retain them according to acceptable terms or release them according to acceptable terms, and do not keep them, intending to harm, to transgress [ against them]."(Q 2:231 see also 2:229 and 33:49) Priority for the custody of young children (up to the age of about seven) is given to the mother. A judge later may extend the mothers custody or give the child the choice the mother or the father as his or her custodian. Custody questions are to be settled in a manner that balances the interests in both parents and the well-being of children. (c) As a mother: The Quran elevates kindness to parents and especially the mothers to a status second only to the worship of Allah:" And your lord has decreed that you not worship except him, and to parents, good treatment. Whether one or both reach old age[ while] with you, say not to them [ so as much as], "uff"[ An expression pf disapproval or irritation] and do not repel them but speak a noble word. And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say, " My lord have mercy upon them as they
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brought me up [when I was] small." (Q 17:23-24. see also 31:14, 46:15 and 29:8). Naturally, Prophet Mohammed specified this behavior for his followers, rendering to mothers an unequalled status in human relationships: "the most worthy of kindness is the mother, the mother, the mother, than the father!"(Narrated by al-Bukhari) (d) As a sister (in general blood sister or sister in faith: According to the prophet Mohammed. "Women are but sisters [shaqaiq, or twin halves] of men"(Narrated by Ahmed and at-Termdhi) this hadeeth is a profound statement that directly relates to the issue of human equality between the genders. If the first meaning of shaqaiq is adopted, it means that male is one half of (society), with the female the other half. Can "one have" be bigger or better than the other half? Is there a more simple but profound physical image of equality? If the second meaning," sisters," is adopted, it implies the same. Prophet Mohammed taught kindness, care and respect toward women in general: "I command you to be kind to women" (Narrated by alBukhari and Muslim). It is significant that such instruction of the prophet was among his final speech and reminders in the "farewell pilgrimage" address given shortly before his passing away. (e) Modesty and social interaction: The parameters of proper modesty for males and females (dress and behavior) are based on revelatory sources (The Quran and authentic Sunnah) and, as such, are regarded by believing men and women as divinely-based injunctions and guidelines with legitimate aims and divine wisdom behind them. They are neither male-imposed nor socially imposed instructions ( see Q 24:31, 33:59, 33:32) and also the numerous statement by Prophet Mohammed on this subject). The Islamic dress code (the hijab) requires the Muslim woman to cover her entire body except the face and hands when in public or when in front of men who are not permanently prohibited to her in marriage because of blood relationship (Her father, brother, grandfather, uncles, nephews, sons or grandchildren), A marriage relationship (Her father(29)

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in-law, son-in-law, stepfather or stepson), and nursing relationship (a relationship due to being breastfed by same woman five times or more, Such as a child is treated as her "child-by-nursing" and as "brother/sister-by-nursing" to her children). The "hijab" is a manifestation of religious devotion as well as

obedience to the command of Allah (God). The wife of the Prophet Mohammed-peace be upon him- in describing the perfect example of obedience in the believing women she said:" when the verse [O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies](Q 33:59) The believing women went out, as if there were crows in their heads, because of the covers over their heads" (Narrated by Abu-dawod). It is a part of a woman's religious practice, neither a symbol nor political statement. It also guards women from the harassment of men, giving them a sense of security and dignity. This sense of security can appear in the today life. When God in the Quran said, chapter 33:59, in justifying the reason behind the veil and its wisdom he said:" That they should be known (as such) and not be molested, and Allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful". Though, it is not easy for some people to trust the all-known God in his commands, But Leonard Sax, M.D, Ph.D. explained the differences between male and female sexual process and feelings, in his book [Why GENDER MATTERS] page 122, in the title ( Oxytocin, testosterone, and rape): " What's the relation between love and sex? The neurochemical basis for both love and sex in female involves the hormone Oxytocin, the same hormone released when a mother breastfeeds her newborn baby." Oxytocin effects both [romantic] attachment and sexual behavior are estrogen dependent and gender specific," observes neuropsychologist Lisa Diamond, adding that there appear to be" more extensive oxytocin circuits in female than male brains." In male brain on the other hand the hormone underlying sexual attraction is not oxytocin but testosterone, the same hormone that mediates the aggressive drive". He went further explaining the differences between male and female sexual behavior, while the Muslim women obeyed the command of Allah for fourteen years for their good. We will see in the next section how the women, who follow the human concepts of life, turning their back to God teachings, faced the result of their ignorance of the benefit of the veil.
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Accordingly, Islam insists that the Muslim woman covers and protect herself; no concession is made except to reduce its degree for elderly women (see Q 24:60). In dressing modesty, a woman also forces others to judge her by her intellect, integer valued only for her looks. It should be mentioned here that some Muslim scholars take the view that the hijab (covering) should also include the face. Their view is based on more conservative interpretation of the verses in the Quran and the hadeeths dealing with the dress code for women. It is supported by the fact that many women at the time of Prophet Mohammed covered their faces. However, a Muslim woman is allowed to choose whichever view she is more comfortable with in particular situation. Hence, when some Muslim women cover their faces, it is based upon a juristic interpretation and not because of "customs and traditions" as some uneducated people may assume. Men are also required to dress modesty, although the extent of covering is less. Although men and women are equal in the sight of Allah, Islam acknowledge the fact that men and women are physically, biologically, and emotionally different, therefore some aspects of life, including dress, are different for each. Legal and political aspects: (A) Equality before the law: Both genders are entitled to specific rights before the law and court of law. Justice is genderless (Q 5:38, 24: 2 and 5:45). Women also possess an independent legal entity in financial and other matters. (B) Testimony: A common but erroneous belief is that as a rule, the worth of a woman's testimony is half of a man's testimony. A survey of passages in the Quran relating to testimony, dose not substantiate this claim. Variation of the number of witnesses appears in the Quran in the context of financial contracts only (see Q 2:282). The reason is given in the same passage, to corroborate the female's witness and prevent unintended errors. However, testimony is a means to an end and a judge may use the discretion needed to ascertain justice. The testimony of men and women is fully equated in the Quran in 24:6-9.
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(C) Participation in social and political life: The general rule in social and political life is the participation and collaboration of male and female in public affaires (see Quran 9:71). There is sufficient historical evidence of participation by Muslim women in the choice or rulers (a right western women only recently obtained). In public issues, lawmaking, administrative position, scholarship and teaching, And even in battlefield. Such involvement in social and political affairs was conducted without the participant's losing sight of complementary priorities of both gender and without their violating Islamic guidelines of modesty and virtue. (D) Women in leadership position: All the rules in Islam are derived from the Holy Quran and the Sunnah by the scholars of Islam. There is no text in the Quran and the Sunnah that precluded from any position of leadership, except in leading prayer, although women may lead other women in prayer. Another common question relates to the eligibility of Muslim women to be heads of state. No evidence from the Quran to preclude women from headship of state. While there is one particular hadeeth is commonly interpreted by most scholars to exclude women from the headship of state, other scholars disagree with that interpretation. This issue, however, is not a matter of religious dogma. After all this clarification three facts worth mentioning: i. ii. Islamic history is with women of great achievement in all walks of life from as early as seventh century A.D. It is impossible for anyone to justify the mistreatment of women by any decree of rule embodied in Islamic shariah, nor can anyone dare to cancel, reduce, or distort the clear-cut legal rights of women given in Islamic shariah. Throughout history, the reputation, chastity and maternal role of Muslim women have been objects of admiration by impartial observers.

iii.

When assessing the realities of Muslims, the media often overlook the numerous positive aspects of Muslim societies, such as family stability
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and cohesiveness, the respect and adoration of mother, and the sense of self-fulfillment of women who may not be frequently seen in public. At the same time the media paint stereotypical picture of Muslim women as ignorant, submissive, oppressed and almost totally enslaved by womenhating chauvinist men. The focus on injustice and on magnifying them partly based on questionable interpretations of outsiders' observations. For example, the smaller percentage of career women in many Muslim societies is interpreted in a western framework and is seen as an indication of Muslims oppressing women and depriving them of job opportunities. Little attention, if any, is given to the personal choices [if they respect personal choices] of Muslim women and their concept of family happiness, which may not be the same choices and concepts of those of non-Muslim women. It is also worthwhile to state that the status which non-Muslim women have attained during the present era was not achieved due to kindness of men or to natural process. It was rather achieved through a long struggle and sacrifice on women's part and only when society felt a need for her work and contribution, especially during the two world wars, and due to escalation of technological process. In the case of Islam, woman' unique status was divinely decreed, not because it reflected the environment of the seventh century, nor due to the pressure of women in their organizations, but rather because of its intrinsic justice. If this indicates anything, it would demonstrate the divine origin of the Quran and the truthfulness of the massage of Islam, which, unlike human philosophies and ideologies, did not proceed from a human environment. Its massage, which established such human principles, neither grew obsolete during the course of times, nor will it become obsolete in the future. After all, this is the message of the All-wise and All-knowing God whose wisdom and knowledge are far beyond the "ultimate" in human thought and progress. May some people would say "yes Islam is great but the Muslims are not good!" I say that is true, maybe we are not good Muslims enough as we are supposed to be. But the standing question is not "why we are Muslims?", nor is it "what problem is in Islam?" The standing question for us the Muslims men and women is "when are we returning to our Islam and try our best to be perfect Muslims as best as ever could be.
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1. Why was Polygamy allowed in Islam? Associating polygamy with Islam (as if it was introduced by it or is the norm according to its teaching) is one of the most persistent myths perpetuated in the western literature and media. Polygamy has existed in almost all nations and was even sanctioned by Judaism and Christianity until recent centuries. 1 Islam did not outlaw polygamy, rather, it regulated it and restricted it, it is neither required nor encouraged, but simply permitted with conditions, The Quran is the only "revealed" scripture which has the statement (marry only one) if you can't do justice between them. It is the only book that explicitly limited polygamy and discouraged its practice by imposing stringent conditions. One reason for not categorically forbidding polygamy is that in different places at different times, there may exist individual or social exigencies which make polygamy a better option than either divorce or a hypocritical monogamy while indulging in illicit relations. The spirit of Islam shariah also includes dealing with individual and collective contingencies that may arise form time to time (e.g., imbalance between the number of male and female created by war, like in the world war II, some countries were forced to outlaw polygamy though it is against there rules and regulations). This provides a moral, practical and humane solution to the problems of widows and orphans, who would otherwise be vulnerable in the absence of a husband and father figure. In terms of economic, companionship, proper child rearing and other needs, polygamy provides a solution. It is critically important to point that all parties involved have options; men may choose to remain monogamous. A considered second wife may reject the marriage

see, for example, Westermarck, Edward A., The history of human marriage,(5th Revised ed), 1925, vol. 3, pp42-43 gives numerous examples of the sanctioning of polygamy among Jews, Christ ians, and ot hers, also Encyclo pedia Biblia 1925, vol. 3 p 2946.
1

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proposal if she dose not wish to be party to a polygamy marriage. A prospective first wife may include in her marital contract a condition that her husband practice monogamy. If this condition is accepted, it becomes binding in the husband, should he later violate this condition, his first wife will be entitled to seek divorce with all the financial rights connected with it. If such a condition was not included in the marital contract, and the husband marries a second wife, the first wife may still seek khula (divestiture).

When I read about the testimonies that have been given upon the prophet Mohammed the Messenger of Islam (peace be upon him) by the famous people who were at the same time non-Muslims, I thought about the solutions that Mohammed offered to the world's problems which made those famous people in the history of humanity to say what they have said about him and I felt the necessary need to represent and to give an obvious exemplifying to these solutions that have been given in Islam for the world's problems. In this section my dear reader I want to take you in short trip to know one of what those famous people said about Muhammad then we will apply the solutions of Muhammad in our modern life. Focusing in the countries which are supposed to be the leaders of the civilization, and that is simply because if these solutions are worthy enough for the advanced counties rationally they will be so for the other countries in general.

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George Bernard Shaw, noble prize winner in literature 1950, he said about Muhammad "I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him-the wonderful man … he must be called THE SAVIOR OF HUMANITY."

So why George Bernard Shaw called him as (THE SAVIOR OF HUMANITY)?!!

Now it is time for us to discover why George gave that title about Mohammed by going across some of the serious problems that the modern world suffers from their results. It will be represented by the most advanced countries in our 20th century: George said that in advanced, because Mohammed offered solutions for the world problems. And these are: 1. (Women abuse (Violence, Rape & Discrimination) 2. Muhammad & Women 3. Child abuse (Violence, Immorality ) 4. human life abuse (Adultery, depression, suicide & Alcoholism ) But because we are dealing with woman issues we well take only number one and number two for the sake of abbreviation. THE 20TH CIVILIZATION: Today the western countries celebrate what it called democracy, freedom, human rights, woman rights, animal rights; they are leading countries in
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economical, educational, technological, and medical field. This is what it called today as western civilization. Actually it is civilization from material perspective only. From close view to the inside, west, unfortunately, suffers the highest rates of broken families, domestic violence, youth problems, pornography, drugs and alcoholic addiction, celibacy and homosexuality, adultery and out of wedlock relationships, unwanted young pregnancy, women and children rape and harassment, marriage infidelity, children kidnap, abortion, racism, violence, and murdering, depression and suicide, and boring life with lack of spirituality .we appreciate the material promotion of the west. But materiality alone makes the person to live a selfish cyclic life. People are in need, also of spirituality, values and social structure without it life becoming meaningless. Part ONE (WOMEN & VIOLENCE) AMNESTY-British international Organization for human rights reported:" Violence against woman is a human rights atrocity, from the battlefield to the bedroom, woman are at risk. Governments are failing to address the real 'terror' of our world that millions are facing everyday"

- In USA: "1in 3 women is beaten by a domestic partner"

IN USA: "Everyday 4 women die as a result of domestic violence"

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IN UK:"1 in 2 women have suffered from domestic violence"

IN UK:"2 women are killed every week because of domestic violence"

IN RUSSIA:" Everyday 36,000 women are beaten by their partners"

IN RUSSIA:" Every 40 minutes a women is killed by the domestic violence"

IN SPAIN:" The UN committee which monitors discrimination against women has altered The Spanish government to the prevalence of violence against women and the increase in killing"
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IN EUROPE:"25% of all the violent crimes reported involve a man assaulting his wife or partner"

Part Tow (WOMAN & RAPE) The sexual intercourse is in the nature of all animal kinds. As a human beings the normal way to it is by marriage. But when the woman in some way is forced to this sexual intercourse by someone is indeed one of the biggest crimes that could be imagined in the human society. Because the only thing that distinguish between human and other animals breeding is the system that human has which is the marriage. Without marriage human life become sort of disorder. When someone commit this crime he has done a crime not only against that Victim, but it is a crime against all the society (the Women life rights, the caused Child rights, and the family's names rights) all that will be mixed up. These crimes that is mentioned take place by this great crime (RAPING)

IN USA:"1in 6 women is attempted to be raped"

IN USA:"1900 women are raped DAILY"

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IN CANADA:"1400 Women are sexually assaulted DAILY"

IN THE WORLD:"1in 5 Women will be the victim of rape or attempted to be rape"

Part THREE (WOMAN & DISCRIMINATION) UNFORTUNATELY, WITH ALL HIGH EFFORTS OF EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, STILL WE FIND WOMAN IS DESPISED AND IN SOME SITUATION SHE IS WORTHLESS THAN A DOG!!!

IN UK"A survey found that more people(74%) would report a person for kicking or mistreating their dog than for kicking or mistreating their partner(53%)

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IN UK" A survey in 2002 of different schoolchildren found that 1 in 3 boys thought violence against women was acceptable"

IN CANADA:"53% of Women with disabilities from birth have been raped, abused or assaulted"

IN CANADA:"21% of Women abused by a marital partner were assaulted during pregnancy"

IN UK:" Home office figures show that of incidents reported, victims were beaten on average 30 times before seeking help"

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With these statistics we can envision the status of woman in those countries, regardless the lies being promoted on the media .You may notice that these statistic information given above are only for daily incidents but to make it clear for us to imagine these tragedies not only in woman life but human life in general, we can multiply the number of the statistic with the number of the year days. That will surely be enough to clear out any dust from our eyes created by the media and some hireling organizations. some people related to these organizations try to show passion and pity for woman status in the eastern countries especially in the middle eastern countries which most of the them are Muslims, in other words, they are trying to say that Islam mistreated the woman. For the truth, woman got no equality from them except the equality with the material. She also got no freedom from them except that they free her from the religion and human values. And with regards to the rights that they are crying about I am asking what they have done to these women with the fatal statistics, no sign of these problems in their interest aspects.

LAST SECTION (MUHAMMED AND WOMEN)

1400 years ago, the prophet Muhammad taught equality of women with men. He-peace be upon him- said ((WOMEN ARE EQUAL SISTERS OF MEN)) Prophet Muhammad added that men should be merciful with women and he represented women's purity and softness like glasses he said "BE GENTAL WITH THE GLASSES"

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And Prophet Muhammad was always emphasizing on the well treating of Women he emphasized to the believers saying:" THE BEST MAN AMONG YOU IS THE BEST ONE TOWARD HIS FAMILY" Also he said:" The best believers are the best in conduct, and the kindest to their wives" And even in his list sermon, the prophet did not forget to command and remind men to take care of women he said:" Treat your Women well" Now what are Muhammad's solutions to the today overwhelmed woman's rape? He offered a severe punishment for the offender, to stop anyone who could think to do that cruel crime. And he also taught that woman should wear modesty including a scarf for the protection from men lust which leads them to rape. A British study found that "A third of people believed that if a woman is flirtatious she is partially or totally responsible for being raped. More than quarter of those surveyed believed that a woman was similarly responsible if she was wearing revealing clothes"

Prophet Mohammed continued to put rules for woman protection and rights, fourteen hundreds from now this illiterate man-peace and salutation be upon him- was putting these rule, now the modern science comes to conform and prove his teaching.

Dr. Leonard sax, M.D., Ph.D said in his book, "why Gender Matters" P.123:" For many boys, as for some men, the
sexual urge is closely tied to aggression. That is not surprising when you remember that both sexual urge and the aggressive urge, in males, are mediated by [The hormone] testosterone. In one carefully designed study, surprising high percentage – 35 percent – of "normal" college men said that they not only fantasized about rape, they would actually rape a woman if they had the chance and they were sure they wouldn't be caught. In another study of "normal" college men," more than half of the
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men would actually rape a woman if they were assured of being punished … highly men are intelligent men are no less likely to fantasize about raping a woman than men of below-average intelligence." For all that we see that not the sever punishment for the cruel crime of raping is cruelty as in the advanced studies showed that just only the fearing of the punishment what hold men from raping, nor modest clothes and scarves(veils) are to oppress the women but to protect them. God revealed The Holy Quran to the Prophet Muhammad and in it we see verses that show the main reason for the veil as in verse 59 chapter 33 it reads "O prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their bodies (when abroad) so that they should be known and NOT MOLESTED."(33:59).While in the fourth century the famous Christian Saint Augustine he made this statement which is the (the prominent pioneer of western theory) he said:" what is the difference whether it is in a wife or a MOTHER; it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman…. I fail to see what use woman can be to man." Not only on the early times MOTHERS were disrespected but also today MOTHERS are thrown to nursing houses. A man came and asked the prophet Muhammad :('whom should I honor and be kind with the most? The prophet replied:' Your MOTHER.' who comes next'. The man asked. The Prophet replied:' Your MOTHER.' who comes next'. The Prophet replied: ' Your MOTHER'.' who comes next' the man asked'. the Prophet replied:' your father'). In this saying of the prophet Muhammad you see the prophet is emphasizing to the questioning man three times that your beneficences, gifts, and all the performance of good deeds goes first to your MOTHER, because the mother in her old age becomes week and needy for her sons help and care. As we can see clearly that Prophet Muhammad was ensuring the MOTHERS life financially and emotionally, because there is no one the old woman feel most of being comforted with like her own sons whatever was the kindness of the treatment at nursing house. For centuries and by the teaching of Muhammad Mothers have been highly respected in the house of Islam even today you can observe that clearly, in the educated and respected
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Muslim families. The most respected people in the house are the olds. That is why Prophet Mohammed according to Bernard Shaw should be called "THE SAVIOR OF HUMANITY".

If you got amazed from the title I gave above, please don't! Because I am going to use this title to show you some situations in which we are victims to the media. And how some people (for some benefits they may gain) are trying their best to make us see these situations as a beautiful things and part of liberty which can't be deleted. While these situations in the logic of the human level considered insulting not liberty.  They insulted her when they ignored the woman's position in the house life; all the responsibilities which she performs in her house are overlooked. They force woman to work as the man's do. Forgetting that the women perform many jobs in life which man can do none of them like giving birth, nursing, and milking the babies from their bodies. This man who say that have no conscience .when his mother carried him in her womb for nine months, feeding him, taking care of him. He was eating from her body during this time almost one year, and then the weakness of her body after given birth and the suckling period, but after all it is just nothing. In the other hand as we saw in Islam woman has the choice to work, while her effort is admired in all her motherhood deeds. And if she is unwilling to work her all expenses of life are covered by her husband or son as a duty of his saved by the Islamic law.


They insulted her when they made her as goods by using her body attraction to buy goods, sell goods, and show goods even if you want to buy a car or something which has nothing to do with woman body, you will find a picture of a bare girl on it that is called a car girl. In the today's civilization woman body is being used in trading aims, and yet you can find people who say it is a nice thing when she is being put in the material level!!!

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They insulted her when they also do not save her motherhood debt, as soon as she gets old, starting to loss her beauty and when the senility starts to affect her body, she is thrown to the nursing homes. All her efforts turn to dust in this particular time, when the elderly people are in need of their children kindness and care. No one can substitute their places whosoever he was. As we saw that in the advanced countries the majority of families put their elderly parents in the nursing homes. IN USA:"52% of all American women who are now 65 will spend their last years in nursing houses



 they insulted her when they accepted the mistress system, in the communities which accept socially the dating and all the sexual relationships by all names the may gave, they may not realized that by their licentiousness and immorality, they are not insulting the woman only by using her but also they insulted all human life. The only natural way of sex is marriage. But every thing could happen when the misunderstanding of terms become widespread. Every woman in the world love the commitment, there is no commitment with licentiousness, when everyone easily can have sexual relationships with anyone. Moreover, the problems of the communities which accepted adultery are increasing. This statistic study show us the case: 1- "35.7% of the children born out of adultery in 2005, in America"
USA Today, "Births to unmarried women hit record," 28 October 2005, www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-10-28-unwed-moms_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

2- The BBC News reported in the main page of its website 21, February. 2006 that: In 2004, 42% of the newborn children in Britain are illegitimate. In 2004, 33% of the newborn children in Holland are out of adultery.
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In 2004, 45% of the newborn children in France are out of adultery. In 2004, 55% of the newborn children in Sweden are illegitimate. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4733330.stm The Bureau office of statistic studies that work for the American ministry of justice reported that: 11 millions persons in America are living now with lover/ mistress. 1.2 millions Persons in America are living now with same sex lover. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) 39% of unmarried women in Britain are living with lovers. 44% of unmarried men in Britain are living with mistresses.

www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/xsdataset.asp?vlnk=124&Pos=3&Col Rank=2&Rank=272 25 millions persons died because of AIDS. Every 14 minutes there is an orphan, whom his parents are AIDS victims. Every day more than 14000 new cases of HIV appear. 95% of HIV cases exist in the advanced industrial countries. www.compassion.com/childadvocacy/getthefacts/HIVandAIDS/hivan daidsstatistics.htm

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To make my conclusion in this research I want to assure you that there is no judgment in this conclusion except the one you made in your mind which happened by the logical system in your brain. It is easy for the fair-minded people to admit that woman has been loaded too much throughout the history, though it is not easy to distinguish who swore for giving her rights as a human being. To what teachings shall we return to? On whom shall we put our trust? Everyone is claiming to assure her rights (Especially, with the force of the media and the empty show which is given on it).It is only the facts and proofs which make the judgment in every issue that occurs in our life, Not the fabrication and the deceits that is being marketed on us by various ways on the modern life. It is more like hammering in a metal, that we are being programmed in how we see things and what we think about them. Mankind will remain in his confusion as he did not feel his need to God and substituted his way for other human ways. But for those who are seeking guidance, God has promised to offer it to them by little search and true seeking. We can be guided to the light which is free from the delusions of the world. Only those people who are capable of searching the truth with heart full of sincerity after getting ride of the whims and desires of oneself. After that, they can easily (with the help of God) make their way to the truth. Finally, I want to state again that in every topic that people make an issue out of it or get confused with it, the only way for them to reach the truth is by facts and proofs.

The End

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"The sources"
ENGLISH SOURCES

‫انمراجع انعربية‬

THE HOLY QURAN
THE HOLY BIBE (NEW INTERNATIONAL
VERSION)

)ٌ‫انمفصم في أحكاو انمراءة (عبد انكرٌى زٌدا‬ )‫عودة انحجاب (يحًد إسًاعٍم انًقدو‬ ‫انمراءة بيه انجاههية واإلسالو (يحًد َاصر‬ )‫وخونه دروٌش‬ )‫ماذا عه انمراءة؟ ( َور اندٌٍ عتر‬
)ً‫انمراءة بيه انفقه وانقاووٌ (يصطفى انسباع‬

WHY GENDER MATTERS (LONARD
SAX)

SOME ASPECTS OF PROPHET MOHAMMED'SLIFE (Tariq Quraishi)

Websites being given in same text Woman in Islam (Mostafa Malaekah)
Gender Equity in Islam (Jamal Badawi

)‫رسانة إنى حواء ( يحًد رشٍد انعوٌد‬
)‫دستور األسرة في ظالل انقرآن (أحًد فائس‬ ‫انمراءة بيه طغيان انىظاو انغربي وانتشريع‬ )ً‫انرباوي (د/ يحًد ريضاٌ انبوط‬

The status of woman in Islam (
Jamal Badawi)

ً‫مكاوة انمراءة في اإلسالو (يحًد يتون‬ )‫انشعراوي‬ ‫أضواء عهى انثقافة اإلسالمية (عبد انحكٍى‬ )‫انسروي/ عهً بٍ يحًد األهدل‬ )‫انقوامة (هاشى انعطاش‬

Acknowledge
All efforts of whose has helped me in my research, advised me, made my way in finishing this work possible and much easier are turned to Allah Al-mighty to be rewarded in this life, and in the hereafter as much as his bounty wills, may Allah cover us all with his mercy and munificence, Amen!
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