Not that man excels woman but one excels the other in certain
respects and is surpassed by the other in other respects. For
thousands of years, man has told woman that she is inferior to him
not only in physical strength but also in intelligence and other
abilities. Only recently has she realised that she can equal man in
many walks of life. The Qur'an instills into her mind ideas of her
essential worth and her own capacity. The Qur'an liberated woman
from her age-long bondage to man. It says:
If men have the potentiality to develop their personality by
harmonising themselves with the Laws of Allah, then women also
have a similiar potentiality; if men can be members of a movement
that aims at world peace according to the inviolable Laws of Allah,
then women also can participate in it by becoming its members; if men
can restrain their capabilities so as to develop them within the Laws of
Allah, so can women; if men can vindicate the truth of their
conviction through its practical implementation in life, so can women
vindicate it; if men can remain steadfast on the path they have chosen,
so can women; if men have the inexhaustive capacity to be more and
more in harmony with the Laws of Allah once they are set on this path,
so have women this inexhaustible capacity; if men can sacrifice lower
values for higher values, so can women; if men can exercise control
and do not violate the limitations set on them, so can women; if men
can keep their sexual urge within the desired limits, so can women; if
men can understand the Laws of Allah and focus their activities in life
on them, so can women. Now if both men and women have equal
capacities and potentialities, their results should also be the same for
both of them. Hence both will enjoy protection and security, and all
other such benefits and joy that will come out of their deeds (33:35).*
This verse puts it beyond doubt that men and women are equal in all
things that really matter in social activities. The path of progress is
open to both alike and the reward for achieving it is the same for
both:
And whoso does good work, whether male or female, and he (or she) is
a Believer, such will enter Jannah and they will not be wronged so much
as the dint in a date-stone (4:124).
The Qur'an also leaves no doubt in the matter of her right to
possess:
- Mafhoom-ul-Qur’an (by the author). It has been rendered into English,
Exposition of the Holy Qur’an, in June 2010 (Editor).
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 295