THE BOSS AT HOME
Status of Woman in Islam
ON a journey to the USA, I learnt of an American lady who, after embracing Islam, got married to a Pakistani Muslim, one Naseer Ahmad Mirza. Her present name is Jeanine Aisha Mirza, and she lives in Utah. In the course of an interview she gave to an American journal, she made the following observation:
While most Americans are under the impression that Muslim wives are oppressed, Mirza said she has not found that to be true. “It’s just a different division. Outside the home, my husband’s the boss. But in my house, I’m the boss.”
A number of such incidents have come to my knowledge. Certain American women are wary of marrying for fear of divorce taking place at any time. This is why some women prefer marrying Muslims, preferably those who come to America for education. In this way, such marriages have become a means of conveying the message of Islam. When the newspapers ask them about Islam, they defend their newly acquired faith excellently, as quoted above.
Islam does not degrade the status of women as compared to that of men. Instead, on the principle of equality, the system of separate workplaces has been established. Islam has divided the affairs of life into two fields, one outdoor and the other indoor. According to Islam, man is in charge of the outdoor departments of life while woman attends to indoor matters. Jeanine Aisha Mirza very aptly represented this principle of Islam in the light of her own experience.
Islam does not degrade the status of woman as compared to that of men. Instead, on the principle of equality, the system of separate workplaces has been established.
This division is very appropriate for both genders. In this way, the man is free to devote his maximum energy to one department while the woman is free to give her full attention to indoor affairs. This makes for greater efficiency in both spheres.
This division, while giving independent status respectively to the husband and the wife, makes them both cogs in the great wheel of the family machine. And unless the wheels all smoothly interlock with each other, the machine will come to a standstill. This means for the family to function as an efficient unit, there has to be full cooperation between husband and wife. Otherwise, it would mean the end of family life and, ultimately, of all social relations. Humanity as a whole would suffer.
The division of labour relates not only to men and women but is also a general principle upon which the whole system of nature is based.
The division of labour relates not only to men and women but is also a general principle upon which the whole system of nature is based.
When you establish a business house where many people work, you have to assign some people to look after the office work, while some people have to be sent out to look after the fieldwork. This division of labour is necessary to run any business efficiently and successfully. If the workers of any factory or organization are not willing to accept this arrangement, that enterprise will certainly fail.
The same is true of everyday life. God has planned things so that men and women together will make them work. Then He has created men and women with the special abilities necessary to perform the jobs assigned to their sphere.
Now both reason and Islam demand that each gender should be willing to remain in their sphere and perform the assigned tasks. Man should not try to imitate woman, and vice versa.
Those men and women who show their willingness to make this arrangement a success will, by the help of God, be rewarded in this life as well as in the next.
If you want to be a success in this world, the first thing you have to do is to display enough courage to welcome failures.