The Rights of Women in Islam

Elaborate and thorough, this overview studies countless aspects regarding women's relationship to Islamfrom their status in the pre-Islamic period and various traditions surrounding marriage to forms of divorce during that period, dower, and customs regarding slave-girls. It goes on to deal with the post-Islamic era, the Qur'anic concept of women's rights in inheritance, the custody of children, polygamy, and rights to property. With extensive quotes from the Qur'an and Sunnah, this study attempts to arm Muslim women with Islamic arguments for their empowerment, exploring clear Qur'anic injunctions on gender equality and the man-made shari'ah formulations that reduced women to a status of inferiority.

Asghar Ali Engineer is the director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Bombay and an internationally reputed scholar and theologian of Islam. He is the author of Islam in Contemporary World and The Qur’an, Women and Modern Society.