Women’s Rights in the Qur’an, Sunnah and Heritage of Islam

Abstract

Rights are means to spiritual, moral and intellectual wellbeing (insan sejahtera) of individuals be it men or women. Depriving one from the rights will lead to otherwise. Women are deprived from certain rights both by religious and non-religious members of a society. Family which was supposed to be the catalyst to secure and encourage the rights for women, became the biggest obstacle in fortifying the rights for the women. This deprivation is often seen as a religiously sound action. To clarify this misconception, this paper briefly presents a number of rights for women which has its roots in Quran, Sunnah and Islamic Heritage. Using literature study and content analysis, relevant verses of the Qur’an, hadith, and practices from the Islamic heritage is surveyed and analysed. The analysis show that Islam has always paid attention to education rights, special spousal rights, right to motherhood, right to possess own property, right to participate in economy and right to hold position in public office. Keywords: Rights of women, education rights, rights of spouse, rights to ownership, possession rights, public office, family institution.