I Am a Muslim Woman and Here is What I Think

How old is the leadership of the Muslim woman in their nations?

According to the centuries-long story of Muslims and according to the Quran, the holy book of Islam, women have been always the backbone of family life as well a support to their husbands.

Having stated that, before Islam arrived and even before the arrival of the Prophet Mohamed *(PBU), women’s rights were in denial. But that has changed after the arrival of Mohamed *(PBUH).

As narrated in Islamic history, before the arrival of Islam in this world, women were buried alive in order to save their families from embarrassment or shame.

However, since the arrival of Islam, Muslim women have been a major part of their family and society in one direction or another. As an illustration, the prophet’s first wife Khadeeja was a rich businesswoman before she married the prophet (PBUH), who was poor and who was also her employee.

Muslim women have been always the peacemakers in Islamic societies and are great advisors in detecting people’s defects as well.

Also, in the Islamic culture obligations are divided between the man and the woman. The man is the breadwinner and the woman maintains the house and looks after the kids, which is a heathy means of building a successful family and bringing up heathy children. In other words, the woman’s place is home.

And that is the “on button” where the “West” or non-Muslim countries nitpick the differences between the Western woman and the Muslim woman. Freedom for women’s rights is what they call it.

Also in Islam they believe that women are more delicate than men in many respects, such as physically and emotionally and they can be also easily influenced or abused.

Hence, to protect the woman from any sort of abuse or uncomfortable environment is the.responsibility of her people, especially her father and comrades.

In addition, if the lady has children she must sacrifice for her children by all means till they grow up. That is compulsory and required of her by her family. She can’t simply leave her children.

Overall, the manner in which a Muslim woman behaves in her culture is mainly per the books and based on Islam. The purpose of Islam’s teachings is to protect women and and give them a comfortable life since they are delicate and sensitive humans, qualities which are, in fact, a privilege for them.

And frankly, if women are not protected, not kept in low profile and are on display all the time and seen on every iPad, they will lose their shining face and their feminine qualities. And that is exactly what the Muslim religion refers to with regards to women’s issues, nothing else.

Women must not lose their natural glory of beauty, kindness, happiness, sense of humour, responsibilities to their household and children by running beside the men and being in every corner.

Consequently, I trust the manner in which Muslim women are treated by both their men and societies is healthy and as per their religion. The rest of the world should learn from them to avoid the huge number of broken families in their societies.

So the Islamic ways of treating women and dealing with them are healthy, fine and to their interest even if other women in the world are not happy with it.

By: Zahra Saleh   (Zahra is a Somalian Muslim who spent 27 years living in the U.A.E.)

* (PBUH) – This stands for Peace Be Upon Him, and is said aloud in Arabic by Muslims each time someone verbally mentions the Prophet Mohammed or other prophets in the Quran, or it  is written as “(PBUH)” each time someone writes about the Prophet Mohammed or other prophets.

*(PBU) This stands for Peace Be Upon, and the same usages hold true as for (PBUH) mentioned above.