As Islam has become more familiar to the world's people, one of the focuses of the West has been on the position of women within Islamic societies. There has been much criticism of the constraints on women that have resulted from religious beliefs and practice. However, the countries which have a majority of Islamic adherents vary widely in their practices. It is not always clear what social practices result from cultural tradition and which practices emerge from the Koran and Islamic tradition. The intent in the following pages is to explore the rights and obligations of women in Islam as set forth in the Koran.
The Qur'an (variously spelled Koran or Quran or Qur'an) is the holy scripture of Islam. Unlike other holy scriptures, it is the result of the revelation to one man at one time in history, which is relatively well attested to historically (Renard, 1992). Islam itself has developed from the intersection of the Qur'an, the tradition that emerged around it, and the ongoing interpretation of holy men of the meaning of both of those. It is holy "men," rather than men and women who have primarily influenced the development of Islam. Although the prophet's wife and daughter were influential during the early years of Islamic development, that was atypical for Islam. Even in Sufisim, which is a mystical aspect of Islam, women have been less influential. One of the major voices of Sufiism, Rabi'a, is also a rare female voice (Hirschfield, 1994).
It is only recently that feminist theologians from within the Islamic tradition have begun to reexamine the interpretation of scripture within Islam. Some theologians have attempted to restore Islam to its original state, finding that the Qur'an is less restrictive in its teachings than the traditions that developed in conservative societies (O'Neill, 1990). Others have noted that the nature of arabic allows for different interpretations of important scriptures from Islam.
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