"Treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers."
                              From the last sermon of Prophet Mohammed.

Woman appears in the Qur´an in three aspects:

First: As a biological and social being. Second: as a believer. Third: as a character in the biblical salvation narrative.(1)

Apart from the wife of Muhammad's uncle Abu Lahab, and Zainab, one of Muhammad's wives to whom the Qur´an alluded,(2) the Virgin Mary is the most important female character in the Qur´an. The nineteenth sura of the Qur´an is named after her, the only female name the Qur´an mentions. The other women whose stories are narrated in the Qur´an are never mentioned by name, rather they were called the wives of their respective husbands. Among them are: Eve,(3) the wife of Imran (Sura Al Imran 3:35), the wife of the governor (Sura Yusuf 12:30), Pharaoh's wife (Sura al-Qasas 28:9), Lot's wife (Sura al-Tahrim 66:10), Abraham's wife (Sura Hud 11:71), and Noah's wife (Sura al-Tahrim 66:10).

What the Qur´an says about the woman as a biological social being can be considered objective, not diminishing any of her rights, though the prevailing theme in this respect is "Men are the managers of women for that God has preferred in bounty one of them over another, and for that they have expended of their property" (Sura al-Nisa´ 4:34). The Qur´an pictures Mary's mother as being disappointed over the fact that she gave birth to a "female": "Lord, I have given birth to her, a female- (And God knew very well what she had given birth to; the male is not as the female)-" (Sura Al Imran 3:36). We find in such Qur´anic verses Muhammad's attempt to project the Bedouin concept of the woman onto a biblical episode.(4)

As concerns creation, no distinction in rank is found between man and woman. According to Islam, Adam was the first man, as the Bible also says, "He has created the two kinds, male and female" (Sura al-Najm 53:45), and "O mankind, We have created you a male and female, and appointed you races and tribes, that you may know one another" (Sura al-Hujurat 49:13). God addresses His commands, interdictions and statutes to both sexes.(5)

After this brief treatment of the woman as a biological social being and as a character in the Qur´anic stories, we would like to study woman as a believer in the Qur´an. The Qur´anic verses dealing with woman as a believer constitute the basic element and foundation for her legislative and social position. As we shall see in the following chapters, this subject can be grasped by studying woman's status in comparison with man's in marriage, divorce, witnessing, inheritance, veiledness, and concubinage. Inequality between man and woman, at the expense of the woman, stands out clearly in these chapters, in spite of the attempts of zealous Muslims and European orientalists to explain the texts away. These attempts have often lead to the opposite of what the Qur´an means and what the ordinary Muslim understands.(6) We will cite, whenever there are grounds, the opinions of the theologians and jurists who soften the meaning of both the Qur´an and the Hadith.

Those concerned with the Qur´an and those who read it know well that the judgments mentioned in it concerning women form a good part of it. As it is known, the fourth sura is called "Women", and is one of the longer suras.


MARIAM (Mary)
Exalted in the Quran "above the women of all the worlds":"O Mariam! Surely Allah
has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the world...O
Mariam! Keep to obedience to your Lord and humble yourself..." She is the only
woman who is mentioned in the Quran by her own first name and has a Surah named
after her. Two Surahs - Al Imran and Mariam narrate her story in considerable
detail.
She was brought up by the prophet Zakariya who soon discovered her spiritual
link with Allah. When she became an adult, she was approached by angels:"O
Mariam!, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose
name is the Messiah, Isa, son of Mariam, worthy of regard in this world and the
hereafter and of those who are made near to Allah."
In the Quran, there is evidence of all the experiences a woman in her
circumstances undergoes - embarassment and anxiety, labour and delivery pains,
and her agony at not being able to have any proof of her chastity in the face of
questioning people. She testified to the truth of the words of her Lord (Allah)
and of His revelations, and was one of the most devout believers: "And Mariam,
the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her of Our
inspiration and she accepted the truth of the words of her Lord and His books,
and she was of the obedient ones." (66:12)

AYESHA
Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bakr, was one of the wives of the Holy Prophet(PBUH). It
is said that she was very young, in her teens, at the time of her marriage. She
was unduly involved in a scandal by the hypocrites in Madinah, and the Quran
declared her innocence by stipulating that whoever fails to prove an allegation
against a woman should himself receive punishment for adultery: "Surely they who
concocted the lie are a party from among you... Every man of them shall have what
he has earned of sin...he shall have a grievous chastisement." (24:11)
Bibi Ayesha was a brilliant woman. She is believed to have narrated more than
2000 Hadith of the Holy Prophet(PBUH). She was considered to be an authority on
the Prophet's life as well as on the interpretations and meanings of the verses
of the Holy Quran. Her guidance was frequently sought on intricate religious and
judicial matters. Testifying to the sublimity of the Prophet's morals she
commented: 'His morals are the Quran'. She lived for some 48 years after Prophet
Muhammad(PBUH).