Is Woman in Islam Oppressed?

There are some stereotypes addressed unfairly to Islam and muslims. Instead of coming from authoritative sources, the stereotypes just appear all the time on media. Yes, this is a kind of ‘media game’. Those who control the media will control the information. And it’s obvious that those who don’t like Islam and muslims – due to some reasons – take control of most leading media. As a result, muslims always become victims. They are suspected of injustice, oppression, extremism, and such things that actually don’t belong to them.

One of the stereotypes is that woman in Islam is oppressed. Many people – especially in the West – consider that muslims along their history really fit this stereotype. They argue that some sacred texts in Islam – ie. Al-Qu’ran and As-Sunnah – really contain teachings that oppress woman in her life.

They can not accept several things related to woman issues, such as following: 1) daughter only receive inheritance (legacy) 50 percent less than son, 2) a man can marry more than one woman, whereas a woman can marry only one man at a time, 3) woman has to cover almost all of her body parts using hijab, except when she is at home. They consider all these things are oppression of woman. Are they right?

Behind the Creation of the Universe

The first Qur’anic verse revelated onto Muhammad is QS Al-Alaq : 1.
“Read in the name of your Lord who created”.

The verse above states that we must read. What is to be read ? We must read all the signs of Allah, which include the spoken signs (aayaat qauliyah) and the created signs (aayaat kauniyah). The spoken signs are the Qur’anic verses and their explanation : As-Sunnah An-Nabawiyah (the Tradition of the Prophet). The created signs include the signs on the universe (al-aafaaq) and the signs on the human body (al-anfus). [Look at QS Fushshilat : 53]

Our duty relating with the spoken signs is to read and understand them well (al-qira-ah wat tadabbur). Our duty relating with the created signs is to read them (al-qira-ah) and to think about them (at-tafakkur) [Look at QS Ali Imran : 190-191]. The goal of all those activities is to more recognize Allah – through His signs – by which we can be more fearful of Him. [Look at QS Faathir : 28 and QS Ali Imran : 191]

No God but Allah The Creator and The Sustainer

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Praise be to Him, who revelated the Holy Book onto Muhammad, by which we have guidance to reach the real happiness, in here life and here-after life.

Nothing to say but praise be only to Allah. How much pleasure and joy He has been giving us are, so as we are never and never able to calculate how much they are. It is absolutely true that Allah said : Wa in ta’udduu ni’matallahi laa tuhshuuhaa (If you calculate the pleasure He gives, you can never do it).

No god but He The Only. We worship none but Him. O Allah … Make us the monotheists, who worship none but You and who never take any other god beside you.

Good wishes and peace be to The Prophet Muhammad, who guided the human to the real happiness by commiting Islam as the way of life. He is the last prophet and messenger. No prophet after him. He is our example in any aspects of life. So let’s take him as example. Let’s follow him. Here comes his Tradition to follow.

Karen Armstrong: A Quite Good Writer on Muhammad and Islam

Among many books on Islam and Muhammad written by western people, ‘Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet’ is – in my opinion – quite good. Written by Karen Armstrong, this book looks more fair. The writer wrote the book’s content based on his quite deep knowledge on Muhammad and Islam, with no significant distortion.

Different from some other western writers, Armstrong accepted the idea of divine revelation. He stated that rejecting the idea of revelation is not reasonable because it is one of the principal ideas in Islam, as well as in Judaism and Christianity. She described Muhammad as not only a human, but also a God Messenger who accepted God’s holy messages through the revelation.

I think the book will give western people a more better image on Islam and Muhammad. So far, they may know Islam and Muhammad from distorted information. This result in their misunderstanding about Islam and Muhammad.