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Islam and Women: Difference between revisions
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===Marriage=== | ===Marriage=== | ||
{{Main|Polygamy in Islam|Purpose of the Mahr|The Meaning of Nikah|Dealing Justly with Wives and Orphans (Qur'an 4:3)}} | {{Main|Polygamy in Islam|Purpose of the Mahr|The Meaning of Nikah|Dealing Justly with Wives and Orphans (Qur'an 4:3)}} | ||
Islamic law prohibits Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men. Islamic law permits men to marry up to four wives (alongside an unlimited number of concubines), while women are restricted to a single husband and are prohibited from any other form of sexual activity. Modern Islamic scholars differ on whether or not a bride may stipulate as a condition of her marriage that her husband remain monogamous. | Islamic law prohibits Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men based on {{Quran|2|221}} and {{Quran|60|10}} (while Muslim men may marry Christian and Jewish women according to {{Quran|5|5}}). Islamic law permits men to marry up to four wives (alongside an unlimited number of concubines), while women are restricted to a single husband and are prohibited from any other form of sexual activity. Modern Islamic scholars differ on whether or not a bride may stipulate as a condition of her marriage that her husband remain monogamous. | ||
Islamic scriptures describe the ''mahr,'' or primarily financial gift made by a groom to his bride upon the marital ''nikah'' (sexual intercourse) contract, as 'the recompense for your having had the right to intercourse with her'. The Arabic word for "marriage" is "zawaj". In Islamic law, marriage is considered under the concept of ''nikah'', a legal and financial contract between a male and a female Muslim. Nikah literally means "sexual intercourse". | Islamic scriptures describe the ''mahr,'' or primarily financial gift made by a groom to his bride upon the marital ''nikah'' (sexual intercourse) contract, as 'the recompense for your having had the right to intercourse with her'. The Arabic word for "marriage" is "zawaj". In Islamic law, marriage is considered under the concept of ''nikah'', a legal and financial contract between a male and a female Muslim. Nikah literally means "sexual intercourse". | ||
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For some time as a prophet, Muhammad permitted temporary ''mut'ah'' marriages whereby men would be permitted to engage in sexual activity with a woman for a predetermined period of time in exchange for compensation. While prohibited by Sunni scholars today, the practice is still considered legitimate by many Shi'ite scholars. | For some time as a prophet, Muhammad permitted temporary ''mut'ah'' marriages whereby men would be permitted to engage in sexual activity with a woman for a predetermined period of time in exchange for compensation. While prohibited by Sunni scholars today, the practice is still considered legitimate by many Shi'ite scholars. | ||
===Control over movement and taking | ===Control over movement and taking additional wives=== | ||
Under Islam, a husband has a right to take up to four wives and has significant control over his wives. Under the Hanbali (but not Hanafi) school, women may stipulate conditions in the marriage contract to grant greater freedom of movement or to object to her husband taking additional wives, with a right to divorce if these are broken. In many cases such stipulations will not have been agreed ahead of the marriage, though some modern reforms of family law have sought to improve the situation. Otherwise the husband's rights are automatic. | Under Islam, a husband has a right to take up to four wives and has significant control over his wives. Under the Hanbali (but not Hanafi) school, women may stipulate conditions in the marriage contract to grant greater freedom of movement or to object to her husband taking additional wives, with a right to divorce if these are broken. In many cases such stipulations will not have been agreed ahead of the marriage, though some modern reforms of family law have sought to improve the situation. Otherwise the husband's rights are automatic. | ||
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===Child marriage=== | ===Child marriage=== | ||
{{Main|Child Marriage in Islamic Law|Forced Marriage}} | {{Main|Child Marriage in Islamic Law|Forced Marriage}} | ||
The major schools of Islamic jurisprudence were in agreement that a pre-pubescent child could be contracted in marriage by his or her father [[Forced Marriage|and without consent]]. They based this view variously on [[Muhammad]]'s marriage to [[Aisha]], the example of his [[Sahabah|companions]], and the Quran (particularly {{Quran|65|4}}). The Maliki and Shafi'i schools even allowed a father to forcibly contract his daughter in marriage who had already reached puberty if she was still a virgin, despite hadith evidence indicating otherwise. The family were to hand over the betrothed wife for consummation of the marriage when they determined that the girl was now able to endure intercourse without physical harm rather than this being tied to any particular age (though Ibn Hanbal specified the age of nine due to the example of Aisha's marital consummation with Muhammad). Some Quranic commentators interpreted the Quran such that only females who had reached puberty can be contracted in marriage, though most thought that marriage of minors was permitted. The Byzantines around this time allowed girls to be married from the age of thirteen and the Persian Sassinids allowed marital consummation from the age of twelve. | |||
==== | Today, [[w:Marriageable_age|many modern Muslim countries]] have legislated to raise the minimum age of marriage, in many cases to the age of 16 or 18 for girls (though often with loopholes or with ineffective enforcement) and to prevent forced marriage, often in the face of opposition from Islamic scholars. Many Muslim campaign groups and charities have been involved in this process and continue to offer help to those at risk (see the article [[Forced Marriage]] which includes sources of help).<ref>For example [https://www.mwnuk.co.uk/Forced_Marriage_7_factsheets.php Muslim Women's Network UK] and [https://preventforcedmarriage.org/forced-marriage-overseas-pakistan/ Tahirih Justice Center Forced Marriage Initiative]</ref> In collaboration with activists, in 2019 the deputy Grand Imam of al-Azhar University in Cairo issued a fatwa calling for marriage based on mutual consent with a minimum age set as 18.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jun/21/senior-islamic-cleric-issues-fatwa-against-child-marriage Senior Islamic cleric issues fatwa against child marriage] - Guardian.com</ref> Unicef say that the prevalence of child marriages are decreasing globally but are nevetheless common (including among non-Muslim populations in some regions of the world). | ||
====Muhammad's encouragement to marry and fondle young virgins==== | |||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|5|59|382}}|Narrated Jabir: "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to me, "Have you got married O Jabir?" I replied, "Yes." He asked "What, a virgin [bikr] or a matron [thayyib]?" I replied, "Not a virgin but a matron." He said, "Why did you not marry a young girl [jariyah] who would have fondled with you?}} | {{Quote|{{Bukhari|5|59|382}}|Narrated Jabir: "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to me, "Have you got married O Jabir?" I replied, "Yes." He asked "What, a virgin [bikr] or a matron [thayyib]?" I replied, "Not a virgin but a matron." He said, "Why did you not marry a young girl [jariyah] who would have fondled with you?}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|3|38|504}}| Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: | {{Quote|{{Bukhari|3|38|504}}| Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|2|282}}|O you who have believed, when you contract a debt for a specified term [...] And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [available], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses - so that if one of the women errs, then the other can remind her. [...]}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|2|282}}|O you who have believed, when you contract a debt for a specified term [...] And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [available], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses - so that if one of the women errs, then the other can remind her. [...]}} | ||
===Segregation=== | ===Gender Segregation=== | ||
{{Main|Sex Segregation in Islam}}In Islamic law, unrelated women and men are not allowed to be alone together, have any sort of physical contact, engage in frivolous conversation, look at one another for any reason other than momentarily for the purpose of identification, or pray such that a woman is located in front of or adjacent to any man (women must stand behind men in prayer). | {{Main|Sex Segregation in Islam}}In Islamic law, unrelated women and men are not allowed to be alone together, have any sort of physical contact, engage in frivolous conversation, look at one another for any reason other than momentarily for the purpose of identification, or pray such that a woman is located in front of or adjacent to any man (women must stand behind men in prayer). Muhammad's wives are instructed in the Quran to remain at home as much as possible and according to hadiths Muhammad did not permit women to travel on significant journeys except under the supervision of a male guardian or relative. Some medieval scholars forbade women to leave their homes at all without permission. Modernist scholars generally contest these interpretations using other hadiths and arguments. | ||
==Muhammad and Women== | ==Muhammad and Women== | ||