Rafed English
site.site_name : Rafed English

Woman's "Liberation'" Comes to Eastern Countries



Europe with its industrial advancement achieved industrial hegemony over the world. This was followed with expanded activities in other fields as well. The European civilization with its big row and fanfare succeeded in snatching the leadership of the world and attracting the attention of the backward nations.


The nations of the East were so impressed by European developments that for them any­thing that the Europeans did was exemplary. Their food, their dress, their mode of thinking, their etiquette, their morals, laws, their system of public rights and everything else were regarded as flawless and to be diligently imitated. They felt that whatever the Europeans did and said must be accepted with folded hands and closed eyes.

They felt that they should lay down their determination, their individual respect, their moral and material wealth, their religion and national customs and traditions at the feet of these Europeans and in turn put the chains of slavery around their necks without any complaint.

Following this allurement mixed with moral and spiritual weak­ness, these lovers of the West turned their eyes towards it anxiously waiting to welcome whatever came from Europe. The tumult of woman's liberation and its practical off-shoots found their way to the Islamic countries, where they received a warm welcome as souvenirs from the West, forgetting that it was a creation of special circumstances and developments in the West that demanded such an outcome; whereas those conditions did not prevail in Islamic countries.

Islam, for the last so many centuries, had granted a dignified personality to woman, bestowing all human rights and privileges upon her, including some special rights in particular spheres. It will be discussed in detail as to how Islam did provide a special privileged position to the female sex and favoured her with a sublime position in accordance with her physical and spiritual structure.

It may be pointed out that the explosive conditions of industrial development, resulting in the break-up of families, leading to the suffer­ing and oppression of women, and calling for a revolution in Europe, did not exist in these countries. But it was only the urge for doing what others had done that obliged the people in Islamic countries to follow suit. They thought that whatever came from Europe was a heavenly command to be followed. On the other hand, all this had a strong appeal based on sensual and carnal desires. All these factors put together brought a group into existence that started struggling for the so-called women's liberation. They gathered under this slogan and the result is what we see today.