Islam came as the real benefactor of humanity and protector of oppressed women. It provides an efficient legal framework for the protection of women from the womb to the grave against exploitation and misuse. The legal personality of a woman is recognised both before and after marriage, and she can enforce her legal rights against strangers as well as against her husband.
Prof Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi
The pre-Islamic scene of history displays the worst possible image of a woman’s destiny and helplessness. In Europe, as well as in pre-Islamic Arabia, she was deprived of legal recognition as an independent being and was no more than a rightless, duty-bound creature. The provisions provided to the wife were only in lieu of economic gains derived from her—a kind of ration given to a prisoner or fodder given to a beast of burden.
Because of promiscuous sexual relations in pre-Islamic Arabia, loose and temporary marriages were common, as a result of which women had no right to maintenance in the legal sense of the term. Women had no locus standi in the eyes of the law, and men had adopted various means to evade their obligations towards women.
In Europe, women were sought to be removed from the list of indentured persons. It was under the profit motive that, after the Industrial Revolution, European women were brought out of the dignity of the house into the serfdom of the shop. Even today, humans are blindly driven by what American workers at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution bitterly called “the new spirit of the age: gain wealth, forgetting all but self.” Like peasants and workers in England before them, American workers denounced this new spirit as demeaning and destructive—an assault on the very nature of free men and women.
As Noam Chomsky stresses, among those most active and vocal in condemning the destruction of the rights and dignity of free people by the capitalist industrial system were the “factory girls”—young women from the farms. They were driven into the regime of supervised and controlled wage labour, regarded at the time as different from chattel slavery only in that it was temporary (Noam Chomsky, 2017).
According to Article 39, various provisions considered women scarcely as persons; wives were understood to be “covered” under the civil identity of their husbands in much the same way as children were subject to their parents. Blackstone’s principles held that “the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of her husband, under whose wing, protection, and cover she performs everything.” Women were thus the property of their fathers or husbands. This principle remained in force until very recent years; until a Supreme Court decision in 1975, women did not even have a legal right to serve on juries. They were not peers.
Islam: The Real Benefactor of Humanity
Islam came as the real benefactor of humanity and protector of oppressed women. Islam provides an efficient legal framework for the protection of women from the womb to the grave against exploitation and misuse. The legal personality of a woman is recognised both before and after marriage, and she can enforce her legal rights against strangers as well as against her husband.
Islam defines the mutual rights and obligations of marital parties and confers upon the female partner the right to claim maintenance from the husband. This right liberates women from economic strains and dependence on anyone other than her husband, which is indispensable for the protection of womanhood and for the home to be a place of tranquillity.
Islam gave women rights at a time when a woman was considered a chattel. Though mahr was in vogue among pre-Islamic Arabs as part of the marriage contract, in some cases the guardian of the girl used to take the dower himself. Bernard Lewis states that classical Islamic civilisation granted free Muslim women relatively more property rights than women in the West. Even in cases where property rights were granted in the West, they were very limited and covered only upper-class women.
Rights of a Muslim Wife
To foster the love and security that comes with marriage, Muslim wives have various rights. The first of the wife’s rights is to receive mahr, a gift from the husband which is part of the marriage contract and required for the legality of the marriage.
The second right of a wife is maintenance. Despite any wealth she may have, her husband is obligated to provide her with food, shelter, and clothing. He is not forced, however, to spend beyond his capability, and his wife is not entitled to make unreasonable demands. The Qur’an states: “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.” (65:7)
Property Ownership and Inheritance
An adult Muslim woman can own, dispose of, or disown any of her property without consulting anyone, regardless of whether she is married or single. Generally, Islam upholds that women are entrusted with the nurturing role, and men with the guarding role. Therefore, women are given the right to financial support. But women can earn on their own and can acquire property and income that belongs to her and her alone.
A woman inherits from her relatives. The Qur’an states: “For men there is a share in what parents and relatives leave, and for women there is a share of what parents and relatives leave, whether it be little or much—an ordained share.” (4:7)
Concerning the question of her share quantitatively, a little consideration shows that a woman is much better placed regarding monetary gain. Whatever she might have brought from her father at marriage—even if she owns the biggest estate—it is the husband who is legally responsible for her upkeep as well as for the children born of their wedlock. Under these circumstances, whatever she has as her share of inheritance will stand her in good stead if, due to some mishap befalling her husband, she is deprived of usual support. She can then, in all such eventualities, fall back on her own assets or regular income.
Though ostensibly there seems a difference in the provisions of inheritance, on the other hand, Islam has imposed on men financial responsibilities that are not applicable to women, such as dower (4:4), providing maintenance (2:233), spending on the family (while women have no responsibility for family spending), and providing a place of residence (Talaq: 6). In the case of divorce, a man has to give something to his divorced wife (2:241).
The Case of Half Widows (Mafqud al-Khabar)
Even in the case of a woman whose husband is missing and of whom there is no news for a specific time—the wife of Mafqud al-Khabar—she can claim maintenance from her husband’s property through a person appointed by a Qadi (judge). This provision is particularly significant for “half widows,” women whose husbands have disappeared due to conflict, natural disasters, or other circumstances, leaving them in a state of legal and emotional limbo. Islamic jurisprudence ensures that such women are not left destitute and can access their husbands’ assets for their support.
The Revolutionary Nature of Islamic Inheritance
Surah Nisa (verse 11) testifies that, most probably for the first time in the history of the world, Islam granted women the opportunity to live an independent life, if they so wished, with assets that were their own, without necessarily being dependent on men.
According to Mufti Zafeeruddin Miftahi, “The daughters who had been denied their share in inheritance so far were now made sharers in the property left by the deceased. 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 fair and just share.”
He further states: “A woman, in whatever capacity she may be, cannot be denied her right to property because of her sex” (4:11). A woman receives her share as a daughter and as a mother. As a wife, she has not been denied her share of the bequest (4:12).
Quantitative Considerations in Inheritance
Now, concerning the question of her share quantitatively, a little consideration will show that a woman is much better placed regarding monetary gain. Whatever she might have brought from her father at marriage, even if she is the owner of the biggest estate, it is the husband who is legally responsible for her upkeep as well as for the children born of their wedlock. Under the circumstances, whatever she has as her share of inheritance will stand her in good stead if, due to some mishap befalling her husband, she is deprived of usual support. She can then, in all such eventualities, fall back on her own assets or regular income.
People who know the details and niceties of the law of inheritance in Islam understand that in certain cases, a woman receives an equal share to a man, sometimes more, and in very rare cases, she receives practically half of what a man gets.
The Qur’an says: “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.” (4:7)
In general circumstances, though not all, Islam allots women half the share of inheritance available to men who have the same degree of relation to the deceased. For example, where the deceased has both male and female children, a son’s share is double that of a daughter’s.
However, this principle is not universally applicable, and there are other circumstances where women may receive equal shares to men. For example, the share of the mother and father of a childless deceased person. Additionally, the sister of a childless man inherits half of his property upon his death, while a brother of a childless woman inherits all of her property.
Also, the share of a uterine brother is equal to the share of a uterine sister, as are the shares of their descendants. Sometimes women receive double the share of men; for example, if there are only parents and a husband, the husband receives half, the father gets one-sixth, and the mother gets two-sixths.
(Note: Excerpts from a paper presented at an international conference at Nazareth College, New York, on 31 July 2017, before scholars from various countries, including the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Germany, Bosnia, Canada, Bangladesh, and Pakistan)
Dr Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi (also known as Dr Hamidullah Marazi) is a distinguished contemporary Islamic scholar whose work significantly contributes to the dialogue between Islamic philosophy and modern Western thought. He is the author of several books. Through a rigorous comparative methodology and an emphasis on epistemological integrity grounded in Tawhid (the oneness of God), Marazi critiques secular paradigms and advocates for an integrative intellectual tradition. His scholarship not only critiques Western thought but also calls for mutual enrichment between traditions, emphasising Islamic metaphysics, ethics, and educational reform as central to contemporary challenges.
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