Islam’s Liberation of Women

By Emily Fraser

www.iviews.com

At a recent Islam Awareness Week organized by the Muslim Student Association of The College of William and Mary (located in Williamsburg Virginia), Professor Tamara Sonn gave an enlightening presentation on “Women in Islam: Tradition and Change”. Tamara Sonn is the College’s Kenan Professor of Humanities, Religious Studies. She tackled many misconceptions about women in the Islamic faith.

Generalizations about Women in Islam

Sonn introduced her topic with a complaint. “Everyone is always coming up to me and saying, ‘I don’t really know much about Islam, but I sure don’t like how they treat their women,’” she said. “People always want to hear about ‘women in Islam,’ so I usually turn it around and say, OK, but first, you tell me about ‘women in Christianity.’”

Sonn explained that “there are very few things you can say about all Muslim women. How can you characterize one half of one fifth of the world’s population?” she asked.

Women in the Quran

But then, diving into the true subject of her talk, she explained that “the Qur’an has a great deal to say about women-and it has a great deal to say that is positive about women.” Sonn spent the remainder of her lecture explaining the truly progressive nature of the Qur’an in the context of the highly patriarchal society within which it developed.

She mentioned some of the practices common at the time, including female infanticide and sons inheriting their father’s wives-”just imagine hearing that added bonus at the reading of the will,” she said.

The Qur’an is progressive because at a time in which females were devalued, it explicitly insists on equality between the sexes. Sonn cited Chapter 3, which claims that whoever does good deeds, male or female, whoever believes, male or female, etc. will be favored in the eyes of God.

The Qur’an also gives women the right of inheritance, which was historically forbidden, and which women in Western societies did not attain until the late 19th century. It also specifies that a woman’s marriage dowry was to be given to the individual woman, not to her family.

Sonn went on to explain that the Qur’an provides several examples of strong, powerful, dominant female figures. She used the prophet’s wife and one of his first followers as an example. “She was a successful business woman whom he actually worked for, and who proposed to him,” Sonn said. “People were not afraid to put forth women as models for believers-and not just for women believers, but for all believers.”

Patriarchy and Misogyny

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