Prof. Abbas Shouman, President of the World Organization for al-Azhar Graduates and Secretary-General of al-Azhar Council of Senior Scholars, said: “Women in Islam received great care, as Islam brought about a great humanitarian and civilizational shift for them. Their status was elevated and they became partners with men in building families and societies. Before Islam, in the pre-Islamic era (jahiliyyah), women were deprived of all rights, while Islam honored them and placed them in the right position, guaranteeing their full rights and defining their duties in consideration of what they can handle.”
This was during his lecture entitled “Women between Freedom of Islam and Slavery of Western Thought” for international students from Indonesia, Malaysia, Libya, Somalia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Benin, Madagascar, and Cambodia, as part of the academic and cultural workshops organized by the Organization for international students to refine their preaching (dawah) skills.
In addition, Shouman explained that Western calls claiming to do justice to women are nothing but misguided calls with a shiny exterior while hiding vulgarity, misguidance, and unfair injustice to women. These calls are devoid of content and have no reality, such as the issue of equality between men and women in inheritance, for example. They were ignorant of Allah’s wisdom when He legislated some jurisprudential matters related to women’s inheritance that they receive half of what men receive, and they built unjust judgments against Islamic law based on this. They are also ignorant of other instances where Islam legislated for women to receive the same as men or more, or where men are completely prevented from inheriting. If we hypothetically followed this equality rule that the West demands, harm and injustice would befall women because in some cases they would be wronged by receiving less than what Allah prescribed for them in His true law, according to the guidelines He set to preserve everyone’s rights.
At the end of the meeting, he answered students’ questions regarding women’s rights and regulations to work, hijab, and adornment as well as marriage for Muslim men and women. He advised them to be aware and cautious of the spread of these misguided ideas that negatively affect family and society and to be patient in their dawah while adhering to the wise Islamic approach.
