Women Corner >> Women Before Islam
In
those days, women were treated like slaves or property. Their personal
consent concerning anything related to their well-being was considered
unimportant and unnecessary to such an extent that they were never
even treated as a party to a marriage contract.
Women
were used for one purpose, and then discarded. They had no
independence, could not own property and were not allowed to inherit. In
times of war, women were treated as part of the loot. Simply put,
their plight was unspeakable.
Furthermore,
the birth of a daughter in a family was not an occasion for rejoicing,
but was regarded with humiliation. The practice of killing female
children was rampant. The pagan Arabs used to bury alive their
daughters with the fear that these girls will grow up and will get
married to some men who will be called their sons-in-law.
After
the death of the father, the sons used to share his wives among
themselves as they shared their father's property. After the death of
the husband, the widow was kicked out of the house and was forced to
live in a small hut, which was unventilated and dark, for one year. She
was not permitted to leave the hut, nor was she allowed to take bath or
change clothes. After one year, she was allowed to come out of the
hut. People threw the camel dung into her lap and asked her to rub her
body against the body of an animal. Then she was forced to go round the
village in the same dirty attire, throwing the camel dung on her right
and her left. This was the indication that she has completed her Iddat
(waiting period).
In
India, the Hindu woman was the most suppressed creature. She was born
to serve her men folk ? her father and brother before marriage, and
husband and father-in-law and husband?s brothers after the marriage.
She was forced to worship her husband. After the death of her husband
she had no right to live and was forced to be burnt alive at the pyre of
her husband. This inhuman custom was called the Sati. If she had no
issue from her husband, she was forced to lie with her husband's
brothers to get pregnant. This practice was called "Niyoga".
Outside
Arabia, conditions for women were no better. In Egypt and all European
countries in the Dark Ages, women were treated worse than slaves. They
were not regarded as human beings but as sort of sub-species between
humans and animals.-------------------------------------------
