The Condition of Women before Islam
Islam came at a time when women all over the world were being oppressed and exploited. The most any society would accord the woman was to admit that she was part of the human race. They never admitted her dignity or gave her rights and responsibilities equal to those of men. The Greeks considered her to be an object of pleasure and amusement. This view was articulated in the classical texts most unambiguously:
We take prostitutes for pleasure, lovers to care for our daily health, and wives to give us legitimate children.
The Romans gave the father and husband the right to sell her to whomever they pleased. The Arabs gave the son the right to inherit the wife of his father (not his own mother) just like he would inherit his father’s wealth and his steed! That is if she were lucky enough not to have been buried alive at birth. This was the case with the rest of the world’s societies at that time, like those of the Persians and the Hindus.
Ismail Adam Patel
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