Rights of Women
THE pre-Islamic Arabs attached less importance to the person of a womanthan that of a man. Thus, if the culprit was a man and the victim a woman,retaliation could not take place. The Qur'an abolished this inequality, andcrimes against the woman were placed on the same level as those against theman, whether they concerned person or property or honor.One may even say that in certain cases the rights of women are held to bemore important. For instance the Qur'an (24:4-5) decrees that if a manaccuses a woman of immorality and does not produce proof, he is exposed notonly to the penalty prescribed for a false accusation, but to be declaredfor perpetuity as unworthy of giving an evidence before a tribunal (this inaddition to the Divine punishment in the Hereafter, which however may beeffaced in case of repentance). There is almost a consensus of opinion thatrepentance erases the sin in the eschatological sense, yet the ineligibilityto giving evidence remains constant in spite of the recognized repentance.The Qur'an seems to require the purging of society from the evil ofinconsiderate talks, particularly in matters where injury is easy to inflictand difficult to remedy.The perfect and complete individuality of the person of the woman ismanifest in a most striking manner in the matter of property. According toIslamic law, the woman possesses a most absolute right over her property. Ifshe has attained majority, she may dispose it of according to her willwithout reference to anybody else, whether it be her father, brother,husband or son or any other person. There is no difference in this matterbetween a man and a woman. The property of a woman cannot be touched even ifher husband or father or any other relative has liabilities exceeding hisassets. Similarly, these relatives are not held responsible if she contractsdebts. A woman has the same rights as man for acquiring property. She mayinherit it, receive it in gift or donation, earn it by her own work andtoil; and all this remains hers and hers alone. She is the absolute mistressof her property to enjoy it or to give it to whomsoever she likes as a gift,or to dispose it of, by sale or any other legal means, at her will. Allthese rights are inherent in a woman; there is no question of obtaining themthrough special contracts, with the husband for instance or by an awarddepending on somebody else.The right to inheritance requires some explanation. A pre-Islamic Arab womanhad no right to inherit from anybody, either her father or even her husband.The Prophet (peace be upon him) did not pay attention to this questionduring the first 15 years of his mission.The chroniclers mention that in the year 3 Hijra, a rich Ansarite, Aus IbnThabit died, leaving a widow and four daughters of tender age. According tothe customs prevalent then, only male adults, capable of taking up arms in awar, had the right to inheritance; and even a minor son had no right to theproperty of his deceased father. So, the cousins of Aus took possession ofall that he had left, and the family overnight became completely destituteand deprived of the means of livelihood. At that moment a passage of theQur'an was revealed, promulgating the law of inheritance which is ever sincepracticed by Muslims, and even by some other communities, such as theChristians of the Levant. According to this law (4:7-12; 4:176), differentfemale relatives have obtained the right to inheritance: wife, daughter,mother and sister in particular.With regard to inheritance, Islam makes no difference between the movableand immovable property; everything must be divided among the rightful heirs.In order to avoid evil caprices, Islam has also prohibited the bequest ofproperty by testament to strangers and the deprivation of near relatives. Infact the latter do not require to be mentioned in a will; they inheritautomatically.A will cannot even diminish or increase the rights of individual relativesto inheritance, the rights being fixed and determined by the law itself. Thewill is valid solely in favor of "strangers," i.e. those who have no rightto inherit directly the property of the deceased. Islam has fixed themaximum, which one can bequeath by will, and that is one-third of the wholeproperty, the two-thirds going to near relatives. A will for more thanone-third is valid only if the heirs unanimously accept it at the moment ofthe distribution of the heirloom.The law of inheritance is complicated enough, for the shares of differentheirs vary according to individual circumstances; the daughter alone or inthe presence of a son, the mother alone or in the presence of the father,with children or without them, the sister alone or in the presence of thebrother, father or children of the deceased, inherit in differentproportions according to individual cases. It is not our intention todescribe it here in all the details. The shares of female heirs may howeverbe mentioned briefly.The wife gets one-eighth if the deceased leaves also a child; otherwise shegets a fourth. The daughter when alone gets a half, several daughters gettwo-thirds which they divide among themselves in equal portions — all thiswhen there is no son. in the presence of a son, the daughter gets half ofher brother. The mother, when alone, gets a third, in the presence offather, child or brothers and sisters of the deceased she gets one-sixth.The sister does not inherit if the deceased leaves a son: but when alone,she gets a half; two or more sisters get two-thirds which they divide amongthemselves equally. In the presence of a daughter, the sister getsone-sixth; in the presence of a brother, she gets the half of what he gets.There are also differences between the shares of full sisters, consanguinesisters and uterine sisters.
