In a truely Islamic society women have the following rights in Islam:

1. The right and duty to obtain education.
2. The right to have their own independent property.
3. The right to work to earn money if they need it or want it.
4. Equality of reward for equal deeds.
5. The right to express their opinion and be heard.
6. The right to provisions from the husband for all her needs and more.
7. The right to negotiate marriage terms of her choice.

Today people think that women are liberated in the West and that the women's liberation movement began in the 20th century.

Actually, the women's liberation movement was not begun by women but was revealed by God to a man in the seventh century by the name of Muhammad (peace be upon him), who is known as the last Prophet of Islam. The Qur'an and the Traditions of the Prophet (Hadith or Sunnah) are the sources from which every Muslim woman derives her rights and duties.

I. HUMAN RIGHTS

WOMEN and HIJAAB

By Ghazala Hassan Qadri

One of the most defended actions in Islam is the head covering. Every Muslim girl, at some point in her life will have been questioned as to why a Muslim woman must cover herself and is often looked upon as being constrained in her actions.

The first point to remember is that any act done by a Muslim is done for the pleasure of Allah Almighty. If He ordains an act as permissible then it is done. If He prohibits an act then Muslims must refrain from doing it. Allah Almighty is the possessor of all knowledge and we are dependant upon Him for all matters; success, protection, comfort and of course our very existence.

An act of obedience

The hijab is an act of obedience to Allah and to his prophet (pbuh), Allah says in the Qur'an: `It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His messenger have decreed a matter that they should have an option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, has indeed strayed in a plain error.' (S33:36).

Allah also said: 'And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things) and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc) and not to show off their adornment except what must (ordinarily) appear thereof, that they should draw their veils over their Juyubihinna.'(S24:31).

by Marc Ramirez

Seattle Times staff reporter

Amira Atan came to the U.S. in 1978 from Vietnam, where her family had fled from Cambodia. These days, her harrowing past is belied by a direct, self-deprecating manner. She says: "People ask me, 'Are you the boat people?' I say, 'I don't know! I took Northwest Airlines here!' "

Now an interpreter for King County courts, Atan is co-president of Seattle Islamic Sisterhood, or SIS. The women's social group, while considered mainstream, doesn't always please the most conservative members of the community. The recently revived group was originally co-founded in the mid-1970s by Tayyibah Taylor.

By Naheed Mustafa, The Globe and Mail Tuesday, June 29, 1993 Facts and Arguments Page (A26)

MULTICULTURAL VOICES:

A Canadian-born Muslim woman has taken to wearing the traditional hijab scarf. It tends to make people see her as either a terrorist or a symbol of oppressed womanhood, but she finds the experience LIBERATING.

I OFTEN wonder whether people see me as a radical, fundamentalist Muslim terrorist packing an AK-47 assault rifle inside my jean jacket. Or may be they see me as the poster girl for oppressed womanhood everywhere. I'm not sure which it is.

Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood

How can anyone justify Islam's treatment of women, when it imprisons Afghans under blue shuttlecock burqas and makes Pakistani girls marry strangers against their will? How can you respect a religion that forces women into polygamous marriages, mutilates their genitals, forbids them to drive cars and subjects them to the humiliation of "instant" divorce? In fact, none of these practices are Islamic at all.

Kathy Chin, A Non Muslim Woman Experiments with Hijab

I walked down the street in my long white dress and inch-long, black hair one afternoon, and truck drivers whistled and shouted obscenities at me.

I felt defeated. I had just stepped out of a hair salon. I had cut my hair short, telling the hairdresser to trim it as she would a guy's.

I sat numbly as my hairdresser skillfully sheared into my shoulder-length hair with her scissors, asking me with every inch she cut off if I was freaking out yet. I wasn't freaking out, but I felt self-mutilated.

I WAS OBLITERATING MY FEMININITY

Q. What are the requirements for Muslim women's dress?

A: Rules regarding Muslim women's (and men's) attire are derived from the Quran, Islam's revealed text, and the traditions (hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

In the Quran, God states: "Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty...And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and adornments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers...(a list of exceptions)" [Chapter 24, verses 30-31]

From Soundvision

The discussion at the Islam Awareness Week exhibition started out nicely enough. We talked about women’s rights, domestic violence, sexual abuse, heavy, heavy issues. It was interesting, she was a feminist, and I, a Muslim woman. But we connected.

Then, as always, the topic turned to Hijab. She started out politely enough, complimenting me on mine and the way I wore it. She asked why I wore it. Faith and personal choice, I replied, the words practically a mantra now after speaking to several women about it in the past. But I began to feel that familiar knot in my stomach. I knew what the next question would be.