AN APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF GENDER EQUALITY ON WOMEN’S RIGHT TO WORK OUTSIDE MATRIMONIAL HOME IN ISLAMIC LAW
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Islam regards all human beings as people from one family and of the same mother (Hauwa’u) and father (Adam) who should be accorded due respect and be given all the necessaries of life which Allah provides for them. All human beings are by nature equal before their Creator, Allah as belonging to the human race regardless of all sorts of differences be it sex, tribe, colour, and the best among all people is he who fears Allah most.
The Almighty Allah declares in the Holy Qur’an:
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know one another (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God, is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full Knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).”[1]
Thus, both men and women under Islamic law are accorded equal rights and
opportunity, such as right to life, right to education, right to independent ownership, right to fair hearing, etc.
During the period of ignorance (Jahiliyyah) among the pre-Islamic Arab societies, women were extremely discriminated against. In fact, it was the Arab culture to bury female babies alive.”….shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they decide on?”[2] Women were treated as properties and objects of sexual pleasure. In that era, the women were deprived of the most basic human right that are required for human existence such as right to liberty, property right, right to inheritance, etc.
But with the advent of Islam, the practice changed, and the foremost contribution that Islam made to elevate the social status of the women was to give them the right to life. On this basis, Islam forbade many inhuman practices committed against the women gender, such as infanticide and the treatment of women as mere chattels. It was highly critical of the attitudes of parents of rejecting their female children. Islam viewed the practice as a crime and murder. Along with saving the lives of women, Islam uplifted the status of the women gender and made sure they were treated equally with men in terms of respect, kindness, justice, etc. Islam upholds the concept of equality between men and women, but this concept as mentioned by Islam doesn’t mean that men and women are identical. Islam noted their natural physical and emotional strengths and in this regard, the Shari’ah sets out their key roles in life. These roles are therefore, not a question of inferiority, but a question of natural capacity and proper functioning. “If any do deeds of righteousness, be they male or female and have faith, they will enter heaven, and not the least injustice will be done to them.[3] This also doesn’t mean that women cannot work or serve the society, or that men have no responsibilities for the household[4]. Islamic law has been criticised that it doesn’t give equal treatment to women gender by the Law of Inheritance but the critics failed to understand that what women do not get in succession, they get it from the responsibilities that men are obliged under the Sharia to provide for their maintenance.“…because God has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means…”5
With the coming of Islam to Nigeria in the eleventh century, women especially in the Northern part of the country were restricted to their matrimonial or parental homes. Women then concentrated on their primary duties only which is mainly domestic. While men at that time were fully ready to carry out their fundamental responsibilities of providing maintenance
and protection to the entire family.[5]
As a result of proper religious education, these responsibilities were known and respected by men who conducted them with religious spirits, giving them full control of their families. Thus, the family system was moving smoothly with a kind of stability attained
within the family.
For the same reason, women on their part knew their limits, they therefore try their best not to over-step their bounds through respect and care for their husbands, children, the parents and relatives of the husbands.[6] This restriction of women is made to avoid free interaction between the two sexes in view of the provisions of the Qur’an which states: “And stay quietly in your houses. And make not a dazzling display, like that of the former times of
ignorance…”[7]
This issue brings about the movement calling for “women’s liberation” and efforts towards liberation. This implies that there are certain limitations, restrictions and bonds in place. Women liberation indicates that women are enslaved, and they must be liberated; that is
not the case, indeed under the Sharia.[8][9]
Men are naturally restricted and have many limitations due to their limited abilities and capabilities. Men in general, in any given society, primitive or civilized, live under certain laws, rules and regulations that normally govern their life and organise all the various affairs of life.[10]However, Gender Equality is a topical issue, genetically ascribed to religion where its causes are purely non-religious. It originates from economic, social, cultural or political affairs.[11]Men are responsible in connection with performance of the economic and social responsibilities; therefore, the maintenance of women is the basic obligation of men under
Islamic law as per the provisions of the Holy Qur’an where the Almighty Allah states: “Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means…”.[12] Similarly, the Holy
Qur’an states:
Let the women live [in ‘iddat] in the same style as ye live, according to your means: Annoy them not, so as to restrict them. And if they carry [life in their wombs], then spend [your substance] on them until they deliver their burden: and if they suckle your [offspring], give them their recompense: and take mutual counsel together, according to what is just and reasonable. And if ye find yourselves in difficulties, let another woman suckle [the child] on the [father’s] behalf. Let the man of means spend according to his means: and the man whose resources are restricted, let him spend according to what Allah has given him. Allah puts no burden on any person beyond what He has given him. After a difficulty, Allah will soon grant relief.[13]
On the other hand, there is no place in the Holy Qur’an or Hadith under which the responsibility of maintenance is placed on women either as a wife, daughter or mother. This is to say that, there is a recognition of the value of universal suffrage in Islam in the sense that both men and women are entitled to what they earn out of their own individual effort. But notwithstanding this, women are solely entitled to their own wealth without a financial obligation of providing for their maintenance or that of their family. In the Qur’an, it is stated that “And in no wise covet those things in which God hath bestowed his gifts more freely on some of you than on others: to men is allotted what they earn, and to women what they earn: but ask God of His bounty. For! God hath full Knowledge of all things”.[14]This is because going by the Holy Qur’an, men are rewarded for what they earn, and women are equally rewarded for what they earn. The Holy Qur’an states: “From what is left by parents and those nearest related, there is a share for men and a share for women whether the property be small or large, a determinate share.”[15] But by no token is financial responsibility is placed on women under the Sharia. Thus, going by the Qur’anic provisions, one may conclude that the freedom and opportunity given to the women on social and economic spheres of life is more than that enjoined on men.
Moreover, the Qur’an provides that men and women are created from a single soul, “… Lord, Who created you From a single Person,…”[16] so that women are not lesser than the men, and they are not created for the purpose of men. Rather, they are both created for the mutual benefits of each other. In this regard, the Holy Qur’an states: “O Mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam) and from him (Adam), He created his wife
(Hauwa [Eve]) and from them both he created many men and women …”[17] So also the Holy Qur’an provides: “And among His Signs is this, that he created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, And He has put love and mercy between your (hearts). Verily, in that are Signs for those who reflect”.[18]From these provisions of the
Holy Qur’an, it may be understood that men and women have the same freedom to contribute to the society keeping with their own particular knowledge and skills, provided they do not jeopardize their personal dignity and modesty. In this context, Islamic law has the greatest respect for dignity of women.
And she is specifically granted the right of equality in status, right to education, right to buy and sell, right to manage her own movable and immovable properties, right to inheritance and dower, this dower belongs to her alone, neither husband nor parent will take any share from it.[19]
The issue of female employment is not left behind by the Shari’a, for the women to discharge their primary duties themselves, they should stay at home. This is in line with the
provision of the Qur’an where Almighty Allah says:“And stay in your houses and do not display yourselves like that of the time of Jahiliyya (ignorance) …”[20] This can be said to be the general principle. However, in a situation where the need arises or where the circumstance warrants, women can go out for a job. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said: “Indeed, Allah has permitted you (i.e., women) to go out for your needs.”[21] Thus, Muslim women can go out either when business calls her in connection with the fulfilment of her primary roles, or to earn a living under economic pressure and financial constraints, especially when there is no male to support her. These rights are all given to women including daughters. In a Hadith reported by Muslim in his book Sahih Muslim, the Prophet allowed a divorcee to go and work on her date palm trees, to harvest them and sell them for life sustenance and also give out as charity.[22]
It is clear that the claims of non-Muslim critics to prove that Islam denigrates women, and the arguments that women are religiously, intellectually and ethnically inferior to men, as Jewish and Christians literature had earlier maintained is not true. Thus, our argument in this research work will demonstrate that there is no legal system that elevates the status of women as Islam does.
[1] Qur’an 49:13 Ali, A.Y. Translation of the Glorious Qur’an Translation and Commentary in English Language, Islamic Foundation, London, 1975, p 1407
[2] Quran 16:59. Ibid p. 671
[3] Qur’an 4:124 Ibid 219
[4] Badamasiuy, J.B. Status and Role of Women under the Shari’ah, Zakara Publishing Co. Kaduna, 1998 p. 51 5 Quran 4:34, Op.cit p. 190
[5] Adamu,A. Balancing the Home and Work: Tales of Working Women, The Journal of the Islamization of Knowledge and Contemporary Issues (The International Institute of Islamic Thought Nigeria Office), Vol. 1, No. 1, January 2010, pp. 88 – 89
[6] Adamu, A. Balancing the Home and Work: Tales of Working Women, Ibid, pp. 88-89
[7] Qur’an 33:33 Op.cit p. 1115
[8] Abdurrahman Al-Sheha, Women in the Shade of Islam, (translated by Muhammad Sa’id Dabas), Riyadh, (2000,
[9]th ed.), pp. 6-7
[10] Adamu, A. Balancing the Home and Work: Tales of Working Women ,Op.cit., p. 96
[11] Al-Qadri, T.M. Gender Equality and Islam, an online article available at
www.yabani.com/index.php?/topic/415906-gender-equality-and-islam/(visited on 30/04/2012 by 04:39 PM)
[12] Qur’an 4:34, Op.cit p. 190
[13] Qur’an 65:6-7, Ibid pp. 1564 – 1565
[14] Qur’an 4:32 Ibid p. 189
[15] Qur’an 4:7 Ibid p. 180
[16] Quran 4:1, Ibid p. 178
[17] Ibid
[18] Quran 30: 21, Ibid p. 1056
[19] Al-Siba’iee, M. Al-Mar’atu Bainal Fiqh wal Qamun, Dar Al-Warraq, Beirut, (2001, 8th ed), p. 137;
Aliyu, I. A. Protection of Women’s Rights under the Sharia, Rukhsah Publishers, Kano (2008), pp. 18-35
[20] Qur’an 33:33, Op.cit
[21] Imam Muslim, Sahih Muslim, rendered into English by Abdulhamid Siddiqi, Dar al-Arabiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (nd) Vol. 2, p. 1121, Hadith No. 1483
[22] Ibid Vol. 4, p. 1709, Hadith No. 2170; Also see Haroon, M. G. An Explanatory Exposition on the Shari’a Principle on the Muslim Women’s Roles in Nation Building, AL-IJTIHAD, Vol. 5, No.1, January 2005, IIIT,
Nigeria Office, p.32
