# Surprising Women's Rights Granted by Islam - The Facts vs The Propagandas | EP 1

- Language: en
- Published: 2026-08-26
- Canonical: https://blog.towardseternity.com/en/blog/surprising-womens-rights-granted-by-islam-the-facts-vs-the-propagandas-ep-1
- Source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0aiDYcgQaQ
- Channel: Towards Eternity

This is the cleaned transcript of the source video. The speech is unaltered.

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What is the value of women in Islam? Does it degrade them? Does it treat them as second class citizens? When you talk to a non-Muslim about Islam, whether male or female, the first thing they ask is about women in Islam. Why do you think it's the case? Because large groups on both mainstream and social media have put all their efforts into using the topic of women as a propaganda tool against Islam. And they continue to attack it. But what's really surprising are the other statistics that we have. In the U.S., four out of five people who convert to Islam are women. Additionally, another study in the UK found that almost 75% of people who converted to Islam between 2001 and 2011 were women.

If Islam were truly a threat to women, shouldn't these numbers be the exact opposite? Or could it be that, contrary to popular belief, they find value they've been looking for in Islam? We have very important issues to discuss. And of course, some famous questions to answer. Can a man have four wives? Is the hijab covering the head and the body truly a restriction? Why does a woman receive half the inheritance share of a man? And a famous Qur'anic verse that has faced many objections. If you're ready, let's begin. In the 1700s, an English historian and author set foot in Istanbul. Lady Elizabeth Craven. And this Islamic city left her in awe.

What women were experiencing in her country and what was happening here were worlds apart. This place was completely different. And she described Muslim women as "The happiest creatures breathing." She would record her observations as follows. "I think I never saw a country where women may enjoy so much liberty and be free from all reproach, blame or criticism, as in Turkey." The Ottoman Empire at the time. So what was it that surprised her so much? What did she witness in England that made her say these words? Unfortunately, we don't know enough about history. None of the problems I'm about to mention existed in the Islamic city she visited.

For example, in England and America, when a woman got married, all of her personal property would often come under her husband's control. Even if she worked, her earnings legally belonged to her husband, and she had no right to claim them. When her father died, her share of the inheritance would go directly to her husband, and she had no rights to it at all. In case of divorce, all the children were given to the father. The mother would be separated from her children, whom she had given birth to, raised, and made all kinds of sacrifices for. And of course, the children were torn away from their mothers as well.

Except for a very small minority, women were not even given alimony, meaning financial support after divorce. Moreover, these were not just social injustices, they were legally established rules. And on top of these, women faced even greater moral and emotional injustices. In England until the 20th century, strange practices still continued. And one of them was wife selling. What does that even mean? It is hard to believe, but when a man became bored with his wife or lost interest, he could take her to the market and sell her like an object. In fact, according to a record from 1913, an Englishman sold his wife for £1. Meanwhile, what was happening in medieval Europe was far more horrific.

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the Catholic Church carried out witch hunts. Innocent women were executed based on random accusations and slander. According to records, between 40,000 and 100,000 women were gruesomely executed, burned alive. Can you imagine? If someone found a woman unattractive, they could say she might be a witch. Or if a woman rejected a man, she is now a witch. Their lives are over. Even the thought of it is terrifying. And in the same society, people were seriously debating questions like, "Are women even human? Do they have souls?" Lady Craven did not say these words for no reason.

What she witnessed in that Islamic city was the complete opposite of what was happening in the West. The rights that women in the West were able to obtain a century later, in 1882, were already enjoyed here for centuries. How was this possible? A woman could file a lawsuit, make legal agreements on property, receive inheritance, and have many more rights than English women. You can probably guess that during that time, women in the West were not given the opportunity to receive an education as well. On the other hand, when we look at the world's oldest continuously operating university, we see that it was founded by a Muslim woman. You can see it in the Guinness World Records.

The University of Al-Qarawiyyin in Morocco was founded by Fatima al-Fihri in 859. This shows that women were given the opportunity to receive an education in the Muslim lands, and that's how she was able to do this. This also means that women had the right to own property, otherwise she could not have established a university. Additionally, it shows that Muslim women could take on important roles in society which made this achievement possible. And most importantly, it means that she was raised in a Muslim family with self-confidence, feeling the value of her gender and identity, not with humiliation. Close your eyes and imagine this scene.

More than 100,000 people waiting with excitement and curiosity. In front of them stands a leader who changed the course of history. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It's the year 632, and while delivering his famous Farewell Sermon at one point, he said these words. "O people! I advise you to respect the rights of women and fear Allah in this regard. You took women as a trust from Allah, and you made their decency permissible for yourselves by making a promise in the name of Allah. Just as you have rights over women, they also have rights over you." Among countless other things, in terms of women's rights, he profoundly changed the region he lived in.

Now let's take a look at the life cycle of a woman living in that society and compare the differences between the time before and after Islam. Before Islam, when a girl was born, her father often saw her as a source of shame, and in many cases she was buried alive. When Islam came, it completely abolished this practice. Even if she managed to survive, she would never receive the love and compassion she longed for from her father. She would remain worthless in his eyes. But Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) would later say, "If anyone cares for three daughters, disciplines them, marries them off, and does good to them, he will go to Paradise." Let's say she grew up and reached the age of marriage.

Before Islam, she would be forced into marriage. No one would ask what she thought or felt. But Islam came and forbade marrying her off without her consent. From then on, if a man wishes to marry her, he must first propose. After a few meetings, if the woman agrees and feels they are compatible, the marriage process begins. As part of the marriage contract, the groom must give the bride a mehr, a sum of money or a valuable gift. This is essentially a form of security. If they get divorced or the husband dies, the woman can support herself financially for a certain period using this money. Of course, this is not the only purpose.

Women can use this money however they want throughout their lives. They can start a business, make investments that generate profit, or they can choose to keep it. The amount of mehr is determined by the woman. The man must pay it and cannot take it back. But if the woman wants to help her husband financially, that's a separate matter. After marriage, the woman's livelihood is the responsibility of her husband. She has no obligation whatsoever to get a job, work, or contribute to the household's expenses. Before marriage, her father was responsible for her livelihood. After marriage, her husband takes on that responsibility.

However, even today, we see that this is not the case in many parts of the world. When we interviewed Sheikha Fatima Barkatulla, a female Islamic scholar living in the UK, she told us something very surprising. This is one of the things that non-Muslim women are most impressed about Islam, because in general, they have not experienced the concept of being provided for by someone else in their own societies. After a certain age, single girls often experience a kind of divorce with their fathers. Under the idea of standing on their own feet, they are pushed into a life they are not used to and not obliged to.

As a result, millions of daughters suffer in the long term, and many times they are harassed by people with bad intentions. Both before and after marriage, they spend their lives trying to defend themselves. Islam, however, places the responsibility of her livelihood on her father before marriage and on the husband after marriage. Again, when the time comes for marriage, choosing the man she thinks will provide for her is also completely up to her. Let's continue. Before Islam, when a woman married and became a mother, she did not gain any value or respect. But look at what our beloved Prophet (saw) said.

"The believers who show the most perfect faith are those who have the best behavior, and the best of you are those who are the best to their wives." In order to explain the value of mothers, he once said to a Companion, "Paradise is under your mother's feet." He considered violating a mother's rights and oppressing her to be one of the greatest sins. Before Islam, if a woman's husband passed away, she would not receive any inheritance from him at all. On the contrary, she and her children were considered part of the inheritance themselves. Any random man could claim rights over that family and marry that woman. When Islam came, it abolished this practice.

And instead, inheritance was divided among the deceased person's wife, children and parents according to a certain measure. You may have noticed that parents also receive a share of the inheritance. This is significant because today, in many countries that we consider developed, parents do not receive any share of the inheritance. However, logically, the parents of a deceased person have likely reached old age and are probably in need of care. Islam places the responsibility of their care on the son, and if he dies, it gives them a share from his inheritance for this purpose. In other words, Islam does not abandon a woman even when she becomes a mother.

Her livelihood remains the responsibility of her children. In a way, this can actually be seen as an encouragement for women to pursue higher purposes. If you don't have to work or simply don't want to, you don't need to waste your time with earning an income. You can dedicate your time to something greater, like education. After all, isn't that the foundation of everything? The complete transformation of a society and its spiritual well-being is in your hands. But if a woman chooses to work, there are also powerful examples in Islamic history. The Prophet's (saw) wife, Khatija (ra), was one of the most successful merchants in Mecca. She was an outstanding businesswoman.

Or remember Fatima al-Fihri, who founded the first university. It was a truly remarkable act of entrepreneurship. As long as the balance between what's halal and haram is respected, there is no problem at all. Normally, getting a society to quit even a habit like smoking seems almost impossible. Yet Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) stood up alone and in a remarkably short time led that society to abandon all these horrible customs and traditions. And not only that, he also replaced them with such beautiful and fair principles that even centuries later, humanity could not reach that level. Many other examples can be given. And this entire transformation happened in just 23 years.

To highlight how extraordinary this change was, the great Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi said, "Let them gather a hundred philosophers, send them to that time and place and let them work for 100 years. Could they achieve even 1% of what that great man accomplished in just a single year?" Not even 20 years had passed since the passing of our Prophet (saw) when the world witnessed yet another remarkable event in history. Omar ibn al-Khattab, one of the most powerful leaders the world has ever seen, was the second Khalifa of Islam, and was famous for his sense of justice. And now we're going to see an example of how much confidence and value Islam gave to women.

One day, Omar received complaints that women were demanding high amounts of mehr. You remember mehr, right? The financial security that a woman has the right to request at the time of marriage. To solve the problem, Omar gave a public speech and suggested placing a limit on the amount of mehr. Who could possibly dare to oppose a leader like him? He was the man who defeated the Persian Empire and achieved major victories against the Romans. That's how powerful he was. But in that moment, a woman stood up and objected.

She boldly said, "Have you not heard that Allah says in the Qur'an, 'Do not take any of her bride gifts back, even if you have given her a great amount of gold.'" It was unheard of for a woman to publicly oppose a ruler. So how did Omar respond? He humbly admitted the woman has spoken the truth and Omar has made a mistake. Everyone has more knowledge than Omar. He then went up to a high place and took back his words in front of the people. It is mind blowing when you think about it. So the real issue is that, Islam has been widely demonized by the mainstream media today. Some of you might remember the famous Irish singer who converted to Islam, Sinead O'Connor. She was known as a feminist.

And when she spoke about her journey to Islam, she said, "I started studying scriptures from different religions, trying to find the truth about God. I never thought I would join a religion, but I left Islam until last because I had so much prejudice about Islam." Indeed, there has been massive propaganda about Islam, especially when it comes to women. But when people actually started looking into it, they realized that the truth was completely different. That's why four out of every five people who became Muslim in the US are women. And that's why, why nearly 75% of those who convert to Islam in the UK are also women. Now, let me ask you this.

If Islam were a system that really oppressed women, wouldn't women be the first to run away from it? But instead they are the ones embracing it the most. Because they see that Islam gives them real value and they realize that this is where they truly belong. When we look back at human history, we see a pattern. Whenever clear boundaries were not set, whenever people ignored divine guidance, it was women who suffered the most. Their rights were taken away. They were mistreated and oppressed. Even today, the modern world still hasn't able to fully protect women's rights. There are women who don't receive equal pay for equal work. Their bodies are used as marketing tools in advertising.

A certain beauty standard is constantly pushed on them, making them feel like they have to fit into it, or else they are told they are worthless. Countless women are manipulated through flirting and many suffer emotional abuse in toxic relationships. Some even fall victim to sexual violence. On the other hand, there are thousands of women who have been abandoned by their partners after giving birth. In 236 towns across England and Wales, more than half of all households are run by single mothers. Just think about the heavy burden on those women and the challenges their children will face growing up without a male role model.

And when you look at many people who end up committing crimes, you often see that they grew up without a father figure. The problems just never seem to end. So what do we really need? We need a system that knows and understands both men and women in the most complete and perfect way. And no human being can do that. Because at the end of the day, we are all imperfect, flawed. We make mistakes. We misjudge, we get things wrong. This is why we need a system beyond human limitations. A system that both men and women are satisfied with and willingly follow. That is a system sent by the One who created us because He knows us best, better than we could ever know ourselves.

He knows all the characteristics of both men and women, down to the finest details. He is the one with infinite knowledge, and so only He can make the most just and perfect decisions. And since Allah is neither male nor female, there is no room for bias in His rulings. Every other system, no matter how advanced, will have flaws, and we keep seeing that. In short, the answers we have been searching for, the solutions we have spent years trying to figure out were already given to us 1400 years ago through Islam. And the solutions to all the problems we have mentioned, and so many more can be found in Islam. As you research and read more, you can discover this for yourself.

But at this point some questions come to mind. So far everything makes sense. Yes, Islam gives women a unique kind of value. Yes, only the One who created us can set the rules we truly need. But still, like we said at the beginning, in Islam there are some topics about women that people find confusing. Now let's talk about hijab first. Millions of people ask the same question. "Isn't this a major restriction?" Although hijab is often portrayed as a form of oppression or limitation, it is one of the things that impresses non-Muslim women about Islam the most. Strange, isn't it? So why is that? If you ask me, even an atheist might feel the need to wear a hijab. An atheist? Yes.

Because covering is something natural, something inherent in the creation of human beings. By her nature, a woman looks for a man with whom she feels peaceful, happy and safe. In the same way a man wants to trust his wife, build a loving bond, and be happy with her. To protect the peace and happiness of the family, this bond needs to stay strong. That's why family counselors often emphasize one essential truth. For a healthy marriage, there must be mutual loyalty and trust between spouses. This is where Islam brings the solution of hijab for both men and women. In Surat An-Nur, Allah says, "Tell the believing men to lower their gazes and guard their private parts. That is purer for them.

Surely Allah is all aware of what they do." In the following verse, women are commanded to cover themselves. So if you have noticed, the command about hijab is given to men first. "Lower your gaze." In a way, their eyelids are their hijab. Here, we see a two-sided precaution. Allah is putting measures in place to protect families and preserve their happiness. But today, both of these forms of hijab for men and women are constantly being attacked. So what happens if these protections are removed from a family? The trust and loyalty that we have talked about start to get damaged over time. Every woman has an inherent desire to look beautiful and receive compliments.

And when a woman with this natural tendency goes out without wearing hijab, she has two options. She will either look elegant and attractive to the people outside through her clothes, accessories, hair and body, or she will appear careless and unattractive. It is one or the other. There is no middle ground. But in her nature, she wants to look beautiful and be praised for that. So inevitably when going outside, she will make sure to look beautiful and spent her entire day like this. Without hijab, this becomes unavoidable. So what percentage of men do you think would say, "This could be someone's wife, I shouldn't look?" Let a social experiment give us the answer to this.

From a few years back. Maybe you have seen it too. A woman walks around New York City for five hours wearing revealing clothes, and as a result, 108 times she was verbally harassed. Meaning, she received inappropriate remarks. And on top of that, many men stared at her with bad intentions. But here's the interesting part. The same woman repeated the experiment, this time wearing a hijab. The result? No one looked at her the same way as before. Whether spouses realized it or not, this situation gradually damages the trust between them. Jealousy and trust issues start to emerge, which then disturb the peace within the relationship.

No man would tolerate anyone looking at his wife with ulterior motives. He becomes jealous and possessive. This is simply in his nature. Similarly, it's in a woman's nature to want her husband to be interested only in her and not to look at other women. These two feelings can find peace and harmony when both parties follow the commandments of hijab. Now let's imagine the opposite scenario. Let's say both sides are careful about their hijab. What would be the difference? A husband would no longer have any doubts or worries about whether other men are looking at his wife or not. Similarly, when a man pays attention to his gaze, his eyelids, he will have clearly shown his loyalty to his spouse.

This will not leave any doubt in his wife's mind like, "Is he looking at other women? Are there women he finds more attractive?" She won't feel uncomfortable thinking about such questions. Hijab is also something that protects a woman from being easily accessible. It elevates her worth and makes her more valuable. No one can see even a strand of her hair without her permission. Think about the social experiment I just shared with you. When the woman walked in revealing clothes, she became the target of countless disgusting stares and verbal abuse. But when she wore hijab, she showed who truly owns her body.

She gave the message that she's not just an object, but rather her ideas and personality are what truly make her valuable. At the same time, in a way, she filtered the people who could approach her. When wearing hijab, those who focus only on outer appearance or who have low moral standards do not approach her because she no longer attracts their attention. In this case, wearing hijab means interacting with people who engage with you for who you truly are. People who don't focus on your appearance, but on your soul, and who have high moral standards. Don't forget. You are above being labeled by others as beautiful or not.

You don't have to fit into the standard set by others based on their desires and expectations. You should not dress according to the opinions of others, but rather you should dress according to the expectations of Allah. The One who created the universe from nothing and placed the earth under your feet. Some people may love you for your beauty, but Allah created you because He loves you. He has given you a unique beauty that He has not given to anyone else. Remember we said that there are two different types of hijabs. Men's and women's hijab. Along with this, also some boundaries are drawn between male and female interactions.

For example, it is forbidden for a person to have intimate conversations or laugh with someone from the opposite gender who is not their family or their spouse. So when both sides fail to follow these rules, they start to attract each other like the two sides of a magnet, and the order of the world begins to fall apart. Sexual inclinations start turning into actions, illegitimate relationships, perversions, and ultimately crimes. Both sides have responsibility here, and when both fail to do their part, the blame goes to both sides. According to a study by the CDC, in 2020, nearly 500,000 abortions were performed in the US and 86% of these babies were illegitimate.

In just one year in a single country, the lives of 400,000 unborn babies were taken due to illegitimate relationships. Of course, this is extremely difficult for a woman. And in most cases birth takes place. According to another study by the same organization, in 2021, 1.4 million illegitimate births took place in America alone. And in most cases, the mother is left to carry this burden alone. She takes care of and tries to raise the child for years without ever having the support of a father by her side. Think about the emotional and mental state of a mother in this situation, and think about the challenges faced by a child growing up without a father.

And preventing this again depends on the two commandments of the Qur'an that we mentioned earlier. I believe the bigger picture is much clearer now, but we still have other questions that need to be answered. A man being allowed to marry up to four women, sisters receiving half the inheritance compared to their brothers, and the frequently asked and debated issue in Surat An-Nisa, Verse 34. The answers to all these questions are simpler than we might think. We will dive into all the details in part two. Stay with us.