Celebrating Women's History Month

The month of March is Women’s History Month. This year’s theme is “Make It Happen”, encouraging inspiring actions for advancements and recognition of women. Success and career development are directly related to education which plays significant role in improvement of an individual. Seeking knowledge is a sacred duty in all religions and Islam is no different.

When it comes to Islam, social status of Muslim women and their rights to education are commonly debated topics. Unfortunately, the actions of many Muslims in several countries today have tarnished the real teachings of Islam. This in turn has generated many misconceptions such as Islam prescribes women to be deprived of justice and freedom. But, unlike common belief, Islam gives women a status equal to that of men. Holy Qur’an states, “…Men shall have the share of that what they have earned, and women will have the share of what they have earned. And ask God of His bounty. Surely, God has perfect knowledge of all the things” (4:33). The truth is that Islam prescribes specific roles and responsibilities for every single member of the society regardless of gender.

In recent times, there are examples of many famous Muslim women who have played crucial roles in education and leadership such as Sheikh Hasina and Khalida Zia of Bangladesh who served as prime ministers and Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia who was the president of Indonesia. Another prominent example is MalalaYousufzai, a Pakistani Muslim girl, and Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2014. She was 14 years old when she was attacked by the Taliban for standing up for her birth right of education. So, it is a shame she had to fight for it when the Holy Quran provides clear-cut evidence that a woman is completely equal to man in the terms of her rights and responsibilities. It also emphasizes that Muslim women stand on the same level with Muslim men and they both can attain same spiritual rank. Being raised in a Muslim-majority country, I have personally witnessed that Muslim girls are always encouraged to pursue education. As a matter of fact, girls outnumber boys in several universities and colleges.

Throughout history Muslim women have made prominent contributions for the improvement of social and economic position in their societies since their faith has endowed them with equal rights. Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessing be upon him) emphasized that, “There is no claim of merit of an Arab over a non-Arab or of white over a black person or of a male over a female. Only God-fearing people merit a preference with God.” In honor of March being Woman’s History Month, I hope that we can all understand the true teachings of Islam and show respect towards all women of the world.