Prophet’s (pbuh) struggles to overcome the challenges of establishing the rights of women during the Makkan period

• Main Author: Amanullah, Muhammad
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: BPK Islamic law. Shari'ah. Fiqh
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/102815/1/Prophet%27s%20Struggle.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/102815/

This paper investigates the challenges faced by the Prophet peace be upon him(pbuh) to establish the rights of women during the Makkan period and how he struggled to overcome them. Women are one half of the society and their contribution to establish a righteous society is tremendously high. Considering this importance of women, they must receive their complete and appropriate rights in any given society which is primarily governed by the men. But in pre-Islamic Jahili period most women were deprived from their rights by the so called tribal governing system led by the leaders of Quraysh. After becoming the last Messenger of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta`ala (SWT), and guided by the revelation (wahi), Muhammad (pbuh) started to correct the wrong system of belief and worship which existed among the Arabs. He also commenced working on correction of many wrong practices pertaining to the women which were causing the violation of their rights. To do so, he faced several challenges. Using the descriptive and analytical methods, based on the texts of the Holy Qur’an, ahadith and related literature, this paper intends to discuss these challenges and how the Prophet (pbuh) was able to overcome them. An important finding of this paper would be that women of the contemporary society can receive significant inspiration and guidance out of the struggles of the Prophet (pbuh) to establish their appropriate rights prescribed by the Qur’an and Sunnah.