Recently, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President has been attacked by the UN for adopting a new law that “legalizes rape within a marriage.”
The issue of women in Islam is on the spotlight yet again. The new law in Afghanistan that “permits husbands to rape their wives”, as many human rights activists claim, has made people around the world feel disgusted, enraged, and ashamed.
The law says, “As long as the husband is not traveling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night. Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband.”
This law makes it illegal for Shia Muslim women in the country to refuse to have sex with their husbands and restricts their rights outside the home as well.
Before we start placing our judgment and point the finger towards the religion of Islam and blaming it for dehumanizing women, let’s first understand the status of women in Islam.
When we talk about the status of women in Islam, many people think that Islam has no specific guidelines, limitations or even responsibilities for men, while women have no rights whatsoever.
I think that what makes a person either a woman or a man valuable and respectable in the eyes of God is neither one’s prosperity, intelligence or beauty, but only one’s God awareness.
Prophet Muhammad said, “The best of you is the best to his family and I am the best among you to my family. The most perfect believers are the best in conduct and best of you are those who are best to their wives.”
It is up the individual to interpret each verse in the Quran the way he/she wants. Islam also condemns beating women. The Prophet said, “Never beat God’s handmaidens.”
The new law in Afghanistan has nothing to do with Islam. I think that they are using the name of Islam to justify what men do to women in Afghanistan which is something unacceptable at all in Islam.
It’s clear from the words of Prophet Mohammad’s he strongly believed that women are righteous in Islam and highly respected.
Those people who allowed such a law in Afghanistan are misquoting the Quran to misinterpret Islam.
