baithak: Baithak World May 02: Women's Rights, Headlines

In this world, day and age is it comprehensible that Muslim women be denied equal rights?

Here in the West the struggle is for equal pay for work of equal quality, but in Muslim world they are still treated as a chattel and are denied equal rights. It was refreshing to read this in Al Ahram:

Women have been struggling for their rights and in consequence, are improving their status in the societies in which they live. One more step in the direction of women's empowerment was made at a round-table discussion at Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) on 23 April which urged that a panel be set up to "revise and rectify" reference books on Islamic jurisprudence to remove controversial literature which participants said fanned extremism, especially where women are concerned.

Keynote speaker at the round table, Zeinab Radwan, the People's Assembly's deputy speaker, suggested that the testimony of just one woman be acknowledged in a business transaction. At present, two women are needed if they are to act as witnesses whereas one male witness will do. Radwan also advocated enabling non- Muslims to inherit Muslims and vice versa.

Radwan drew harsh criticism for her call that the testimony of one woman be equal to that of one man, an idea said to be against a text in Islam's holy book the Quran which says that testimonies of two women equal that of one man. But Radwan offered a different perception. "The text of the Quran is related to a specific situation in which women were illiterate at the time, and could also forget the details of the incident since what they were giving was verbal testimony, not written," Radwan, a professor of Islamic philosophy, told the round table.

Speaking at the NCHR gathering, Ahmed El-Sayeh, a professor of Islamic philosophy at Al-Azhar University, strongly rebutted what he termed "the beliefs of some members of the centre which were inherited from extremist sects in pre-Islamic eras, underestimating the position of women." He stressed that Islam provides for full equality between men and women. El-Sayeh explained that testimony means giving information about a certain person. This involves two stages: bearing the burden of testimony and giving the testimony. As far as the former is concerned, a woman can handle such responsibility in all spheres of life. In other words, a woman can be a witness to an incident of whatever kind. "Most Quranic references to witnesses do not make any reference to gender. Some references fully equate the testimony of males and females," added El-Sayeh.

The storm kicked up after it was suggested that the testimony of a woman should be equal to that of a man has died down after a detailed explanation and a seal of approval from the Islamic Research Council, Reem Leila reports In her favour

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