Gender roles in Islam

This article is about gender roles, in families and relationships between men and women, in Islam. For other related topics, including Islamic women's clothing and other differences in Islamic law between the sexes, see Women and Islam.

In Islam, the sexes are considered equal before God in the complementarian sense. Allah says in verse 13 of chapter 49 in the Qu'ran: "O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa. Verily, Allâh is All-Knowing, All-Aware."^{[citation needed]} At the same time, Islamic law and practice recognize differences between sexes, resulting in different rights and obligations.

Qur'an instructs believers that they should not treat women as a commodity which can be inherited and used as liked. The context is that in the pre-Islamic era, the wives of a person could be transferred to his heirs like his wealth and animals.

In many Islamic societies, there is a division of roles creating a woman’s space in the private sphere of the home and a man’s in the public sphere. In Islam, a woman's primary responsibility is usually interpreted as fulfilling her role as a wife and mother, whereas a man’s role is to work and be able to financially support his wife and family. However neither the Qu'ran nor the Hadith specifically mention gender roles for women.

Under the Qur'an, "Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient..." According to Sayyid Qutb as outlined by John Esposito, however, this passage does not imply the "squashing (of) the woman's personalty or her civic rights;rather it is an obligation to direct and protect the family." According to Qutb's analysis, the Quran "gives the man the right of 'guardianship' or 'superiority' over the family structure in order to prevent dissension and friction between the spouses. The equity of this system lies in the fact that God both favoured the man with the necessary qualities and skills for the 'guardianship' and also charged him with the duty to provide for the structure's upkeep."

Family

Further information: Rights and obligations of spouses in Islam

The Qu'ran states that unless a wife is guilty of open sexual transgression, a believer should not subject his wife to harsh treatment, even if he dislikes his wife. If a believer behaves in a good manner to his wife even though he doesn't like her, the Qur'an used the word Asā (‘عَسَى’), which implies in this context a promise from God of a great reward.

Modern scholars say that the Qur'an instructs husbands to deal with their wives according to good conventions and traditions of a society and emphasize the importance of taking counsel and mutual agreement in family decisions.

Similarly, it is attributed to Muhammad:

• Fear Allah in respect of women.
• The best of you are they who behave best to their wives.
• A Muslim must not hate his wife, and if he be displeased with one bad quality in her, let him be pleased with one that is good.
• The more civil and kind a Muslim is to his wife, the more perfect in faith he is.

In many Islamic societies, there is a division of roles creating a woman’s space in the private sphere of the home and a man’s in the public sphere. A woman's primary responsibility is usually interpreted as fulfilling her role as a wife and mother, whereas a man’s role is to work and be able to financially support his wife and family.

Gender roles in prayer and worship

Further information: Sex segregation and Islam

On Fridays many Muslims pray in congregation, and men, women, and children are segregated into separate groups. Every other day in the home the family prays together. The man will lead the prayers, as he is considered the head of the household. His wife and children will stand behind him as they pray.

Gender roles within marriage

Muhammad described the high status of mothers in both of the major hadith Collections (Bukhari and Muslim). One famous account is:

"A man asked the Prophet: 'Whom should I honor most?' The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother!'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your father'"

In Islam, the primary role played by women is to be mothers, and mothers are considered the most important part of the family. A well known Hadith of the prophet says: "I asked the Prophet who has the greatest right over a man, and he said, 'His mother'". While a woman is considered the most important member of the family, she is not the head of the family. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that importance has no relevance with being the head of the family.

Other genders

In Islam, the term mukhannathun is used to describe gender-variant people, usually male-to-female transsexuals. Neither this term nor the equivalent for "eunuch" occurs in the Qur'an, but the term does appear in the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad, which have a secondary status to the central text. Moreover, within Islam, there is a tradition on the elaboration and refinement of extended religious doctrines through scholarship. This doctrine contains a trans-positive passage by the scholar and hadith collector An-Nawawi:

A mukhannath is the one ("male") who carries in his movements, in his appearance and in his language the characteristics of a woman. There are two types; the first is the one in whom these characteristics are innate, he did not put them on by himself, and therein is no guilt, no blame and no shame, as long as he does not perform any (illicit) act or exploit it for money (prostitution etc.). The second type acts like a woman out of immoral purposes and he is the sinner and blameworthy.

Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand. It is sanctioned as a supposed "cure" for homosexuality, which is punishable by death under Iranian law. The government even provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance and a sex change is recognised on the birth certificate.

See also

• Domestic violence and Islam
• Islamic feminism
• Women in Islam
• Sex segregation and Islam
• Polygyny in Islam