Are Women and Men Equal Before Allah?
Friday 6th January 2006

All human beings are equal in the eyes of God our creator. Be we rich or poor, young or old, we will all be answerable to Allah for our deeds on this earth.

However, it seems some of our male counterparts could not just realise this, or simply refuse to accept this very reality of life. Those men who fall under the latter category feel that one can just buy a woman from a market with few dalasis. What an insult to the women and the entire human race! One thing that our men folk should understand is that the evil that men do lives after them, that those hard-line men should understand that they too have sisters marrying outside the family and that the treatment meted out to their wives may reflect on their very own sisters.

According to the book entitled “ARE WOMEN AND MEN EQUAL BEFORE ALLAH”, it is ably

argued that Islam is a liberating religion that uplifts the status of women and gives them rights that are considered revolutionary some 1400 years ago.

However, some Muslim practices today often oppress women and deny them the equality and dignity provided for them in the Holy Quran.

The book further explains that in the Book of Allah, there is no difference in value given to the creation of man and women.

That the Quran states “And of everything we have created in pains (Zawjayn)” (51:49); several other verses in the Quran also talk about the characteristics of pairings in creation (i.e. verses 53:45, 78:8, 50:7, 22:5, 36:36.)

This book also categorically states that Allah has specifically addressed both men and women giving them equal roles and responsibilities in spiritual life and in the Islamic struggle, and equal rewards and punishment for their actions.

The authors of this book ‘Sisters in Islam’, is a group of Muslim women studying and doing research on the status of women in Islam.