Custom essays on The struggle of Muslim women for rights and honor

The image of women in Islam, Muslim women, whose body, feelings, thoughts safely sheltered from prying eyes, has always attracted the attention of poets and writers, academics and journalists, and anyone interested in the East. Passed the century and the era, one social system replaces another, and the enigmatic image of Muslim women remained unchanged. At present, however, some women with progressive views, from those who were educated in Europe and America, advocating the rights of Muslim women against discrimination. (Beyer, 2003)
Nowadays there is been a boom of publications on various aspects of the so-called women’s issues in Islam:
-the rights and freedoms of women
– their participation in politics and in elected bodies
-the social dimension of gender equity
-the feminization of economic activity.
This is due to the intensification of Islam throughout the world, and with the growth of feminism and the rise of female factor in world politics. ( Haddad 1998)
Speaking about the status of women in the world of Islam, I would like to mention another important fact: very often, the problem becomes a matter of misjudgment, especially in Western countries. Western political scientists wrongly interpret the attitude of Islam to the woman, or seek to show a Muslim woman in dark colors, exhausted from the moral pressure of men. When reading such books and articles, published by western researchers about women’s rights, it becomes evident that people are not living in the Islamic world. They can not properly and explicitly show to readers the whole essence of the matter, to adequately assess the equality between men and women in Islam.
Sometimes there are totally alien to Islam examples of equality between men and women, as well as incorrect interpretation of the hadith and the Quran. They put forward the concept of embodying the idea of the elevation of women over men, and leads to the fact that the woman is at much higher rank than men. This does not correspond to the concept of Islam, stating that a man and woman were created from the same spirit and equal before Allah. Such readings call Muslim women to join the global feminist movement and uses this term as “Islamic feminism”. Thus, if the goal of Western feminism is that women can acquire similar rights with men in all social spheres, Islam sees its task as to enable them to comply fully with its feminine destiny. Failure to understand this situation shows how in both men and women are deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes.
Women’s Rights in Islam, in turn, together with Western scholars, and scientists are also involved Muslims. Unlike their Western counterparts, judgments regarding the status of women in Islam are ideologically different. Sometimes you can see that are similar examples from the Quran and hadith regarding women’s rights in Islam, but their interpretation is not quite the same and have different purposes.
Nevertheless, feminist scholars are revising their total rejection of religious belief and practice for women. The book by Sharma “Women in World Religions” finds that the feminist assumption that religion is irredeemably patriarchal is now seen as simplistic. “Women and World Religions” assumes that in spite of women’s suffering under organized religion, many women have drawn strength from their religion, and that the world’s religions offer women and men “great sources for forgiveness and renewal”. (Sharma, 1987, p.3).
The above shows a conceptual distinction between studies of Western and Eastern scholars in the field of women’s rights in Islam. It is becoming clear that understanding the role of a modern Muslim woman for a Western man is very different from the understanding of the eastern. East man is clear that a Muslim woman can not only fight for the rights of women, her status and position can not be separated from that of other members of her personal family.
In this sense, all the western wings of the feminist movement, which proclaims individualism, unlimited personal freedom and full public transparency, are doomed to failure. But most importantly, the differences between Western and Islamic traditions can be seen that the Western people always tend to individuality, while when the individual in Islam has never had and never will possess the degree of individual freedom, like the inhabitant of the western world, in any case, it remains in the family, under her supervision and, consequently, control. Thus, for a Muslim family interests always take precedence over her personal ambitions and interests. (Bunting 2003)
One of the reasons for the protests of ideological enemies of Islam is the problem of polygamy. This problem is due to poor attitude towards women, and disrespect to her dignity. However, the Bible, the sacred book of the Jews and Christians, does not prohibit polygamy. The Bible tells that the king of the Jews and the Prophet Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, the same is said about King David. Jesus also spoke out against polygamy, which is widespread among the Jews in his era. (Suad 2005)
Polygamy in Islam is not a compulsory act. The Quran permits men to have up to four wives if he is able to observe justice between wives in full: in the money supply, shelter, attention and care. In fact Islam forbids men to have even one wife, if he is unable to provide her with housing, material supplies.
Let’s point out the fact, that nowadays, in Western countries there is informal polygamy, when a man, having a registered marriage with a woman, has a mistress. But mistresses have no rights. What is better for the woman herself – to be lawful wife or concubine without rights, the mistress of a married man?
As a result, this brief review shows clearly that Islam protects the rights of women.

Conclusion
This work describes the situation of women in accordance with Islamic law. The emphasis of women is on original and authentic sources of Islam. It is also worth noting that the attitude and status which women have achieved in our days, is not a goodness of men or natural progress. These rights were won by women in long and protracted struggle is only recently, after two world wars, and technological advances.
With regard to Islam this full of compassion and generosity attitude toward women was enshrined in law as early as the seventh century. And the high status of women in Muslim society was not reached because of the acts of protest and pressure from women and women’s organizations, but through the essence of the teachings of Islam.
But a Muslim who nevertheless is bad for a woman, must remember the words of the Prophet Mohammed: “Honor only a noble woman, and humiliates her – only a bastard!”
We should not divide a “Western” or “Christian” world from a “Muslim” world, to do so would be to forget that we are all citizens of the world. Also governments and communities must expend great efforts to enhance communication between religious communities and strengthen ties of mutual respect through the raising of awareness about religious traditions.

References
Ahmed L. (1992). Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven, Yale University Press
Beyer, Lisa, et al. (2003). “The Women of Islam.” The Muslim World. Edited by Geoffrey Orens. New York: H.W. Wilson, pp.73-77.
Bunting, M. (2003) “Can Islam Liberate Women?” The Muslim World. Edited by G. Orens. New York: H.W. Wilson, pp. 78-85.
Fantham E. (1994). Women in the Classical World. Oxford University Press, New York.
Glassé C. ( 2002). The New Encyclopedia of Islam. AltaMira Press
Gender and Diversity in Place: Proceedings of the Fourth Conference on Feminism and Classics. University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona. May 27-30, 2004.
Haddad Y, Esposito J. (1998). Islam, Gender, and Social Change. Oxford University Press
Haddad Y., Moore Kathleen M. & Smith Jane I. (2006). Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today. Oxford University Press
Millett K, (2003). “American by Birth, Muslim by Choice,” The Muslim World. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, p. 92.
Sharma Arvind. (1987). Women in World Religions. New York: State University of New York Press p.3.
Suad J. (2005). Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures. BRILL
Williams, R. H. and Vashi, G. ( 2006) “Hijab and American Muslim Women: Creating the Space for Autonomous Selves”. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal Convention Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Online.