The Rights of Women in Islam

It has long been argued that Islam liberated Muslim women by granting them full rights as citizens. Yet in much of the Muslim world women have been subjected to both cultural and political oppression. Instances such as forced marriages, arbitrary divorces, female mutilations and other abuses are common in the Muslim world, as are restrictions on women's education and on their role in the labour force. This work explores these problems and highlights the contrast with what Islam - through the Qur'an and the Sunna - prescribes. The cause of such contradictions are shown to lie in other scoio-cultural and political dynamics, quite outside the realm of the revealed religion.