The Status of Women Among Islamic Jurists

A lecture transcript in which a sheikh defends the Islamic juristic tradition regarding women, responding to modern doubts by quoting classical jurists directly.

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Context & Setting

The Islamic arena is rife with doubts weaponised against the fiqh tradition — particularly around the status of women. This lecture was delivered at an Islamic centre in the West, where a seasoned da’i in his fifties was invited to address the topic “The Status of Women in Islam.”

After spending the night sorting through questions submitted by email, the sheikh concluded:

“The enemies rely on the criticism from the jurists — that they, with their human understanding, have denied women their rights — to the point that the matter has become difficult for those who do not have a great deal of knowledge.”

He resolved to defend the jurists through their own words, not by arguing from outside.

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The Historical Root of the Problem

The sheikh traced the origin of the modern doubts to Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign in Egypt (1798 CE), after which Muhammad Ali Pasha sent missions to the West — including Rifa’a al-Tahtawi — importing secular frameworks.

Why target women specifically?

“Because women are the foundation of the family, and the family is the nucleus of society.”

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On Femininity — A Hanafi Gem

People allege that jurisprudence is “masculine” and that femininity is a deficiency. The sheikh quoted Ibn Abd al-Salam Abu al-Makarim al-Hanafi (biographed in Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya by al-Ghaznawi):

• The eye is feminised — and through it, truths are reached.
• The ear is feminised — and through it, subtleties are reached.
• The hand is feminised — and it is responsible for writing compositions.
• Paradise is feminine… and it was promised to the good and righteous.

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On “Deficiency of Intellect” — The State of the Jurists vs. Their Words

The charge that jurists considered women “deficient in intellect” is refuted by looking at how the jurists actually treated women scholars — as teachers whose authority they proudly recorded in their chains of transmission.

Imam al-Zuhri and Amra bint Abd al-Rahman

Al-Qasim bin Muhammad (one of the seven jurists of Medina) said to al-Zuhri: “Boy, I see that you are keen on seeking knowledge — shall I not show you its receptacle?” Al-Zuhri said: “Yes.” He said: “You should go to Amra bint Abd al-Rahman al-Ansariyya, for she was in the care of Aisha ﷺ.” Al-Zuhri said: “So I went to her and found her to be an inexhaustible sea.”

Other Examples

• Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani praised his sister Sitt al-Rukb.
• Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya praised his female teachers (shaykhāt).
• Ibn Kathir similarly praised his shaykhāt.
• The daughter of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Fatima, taught both women and men (separated by a screen). ^[Dr. Dalal al-Harbi, Famous Women from Najd.]

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On Fatwa & the Judiciary

• The jurists are unanimous on the permissibility of women issuing fatāwā.
• Ibn Hazm (al-Muḥallā, 8/528) permitted appointing women as judges absolutely.
• The Hanafis permitted women to hold part of the judiciary.
• Ibn al-Qayyim discussed the issue in detail in I’lām al-Muwaqqi’īn.

Imam al-Nawawi al-Shafi’i on the conditions of a mufti:

“He must be accountable, Muslim, trustworthy, reliable, free from the causes of immorality and the breaches of chivalry, and a jurist of the soul — and this applies equally to men and women.” ^[Al-Nawawi, al-Majmū’ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab.]

Al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi in Siyar A’lām al-Nubalā’, on Ummat al-Wahid bint al-Husayn bin Ismail:

“She used to issue fatwas with Abu Ali bin Abi Hurairah, and she was one of the people with the best knowledge of jurisprudence.”

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Jurisprudential Positions on Women — Pearl Quotations

Marriage & Divorce

• If a man divorces a woman before consummation, the majority hold he must initiate a new contract and dowry to remarry her — a protection of her dignity.
• Per the Shafi’is and Hanbalis: if he sent pre-marriage gifts then annulled the contract, he cannot reclaim them, since gifts have the ruling of donations.

Maintenance

Abu Yusuf (companion of Abu Hanifa) stated regarding a woman of social standing:

“She is assigned two servants — one inside the house, and another for her needs outside the house.”

Childcare

Ibn Hajar quoted Ibn Battal:

“A woman’s assistance to her husband in raising his children is not obligatory upon her, but rather it is from the good companionship and from the nature of righteous women.” (Fatḥ al-Bārī, Hadith No. 5052)

Polygamy

The Hanbalis held that achieving justice is closer to one wife than to polygamy.

Guardianship

Abu Hayyan (Tafsīr al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ):

“Men are guardians of women — if they are men; that is, if they have achieved the qualities of manhood.”

The Al-Soussi Fatwa — A Moroccan Maliki Masterpiece

Al-Soussi (a Moroccan Maliki jurist) described a rural Moroccan woman’s daily labour in detail — grinding at dawn, heating water for ablution, milking, drawing water from a well, cutting firewood — then ruled she has a right to compensation for domestic work and a special share of inheritance before general distribution. ^[Al-Soussi, al-Ma’sūl (1/58).]

Women’s Work

Ibn al-Nujaym al-Hanafi in al-Ashbāh wa al-Naẓā’ir (10th century AH):

“The country may need special female efforts, or they may perform better, so the whole should not be left for the benefit of the part. This is a general interest, as opposed to a private interest, which is the interest of the husbands only.”

Ibn Hajar on al-Rabi’ bint Mu’awwidh going out to treat the wounded:

“It is permissible for a foreign woman to treat a foreign man out of necessity.”

The Hanbalis explicitly permitted women to work as nurses and midwives.

Silk — A Telling Detail

“A man is permitted to spread out on silk as a dependent of his wife — not independently. Rather, they have said that a man does not enter a silk bed except after his wife has entered, and he does not remain in it after that.” ^[Al-Hattāb, Mawāhib al-Jalīl (1/505).]

Punishments — The Maliki Mitigation

Regarding banishment (taghrib) as part of the ḥadd for an unmarried adulterer:

“Banishment is not obligatory for an unmarried adulterous woman, because her exile may become a reason for her to be exposed to corruption. The Malikis have said that a woman is not banished even if she is satisfied, and even if she is accompanied by a maḥram, in order to preserve her honour.” ^[Sheikh Alish, Manḥ al-Jalīl (6/262).]

Women in Prayer — Imam al-Bukhari’s Jurisprudence

Not finding an authentic description of how a woman should sit in prayer, al-Bukhari cited:

“Umm al-Darda’ — the younger — used to sit as a man would” — then added: “And she was a jurist.”

Hajj — Precedence for the Weak

Al-Bukhari devoted a chapter: “Chapter on the Desirability of Giving Precedence to Weak Women” during Hajj.

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (from Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila by Ibn al-Farra’):

“If a man wants to perform Hajj on behalf of his parents, he should start with the mother.”

Testimony

• A group of jurists restrict the “two women = one man” rule exclusively to financial matters.
• Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim have extensive research on this.
• There are five areas of testimony where only a woman’s testimony is accepted, regardless of how just a man is: birth, breastfeeding, defects beneath a woman’s garment, expiration of the waiting period (‘idda), and the first cry of a newborn.
• Ibn al-Qayyim in al-Ṭuruq al-Ḥikmiyya included a dedicated chapter: “The Testimony of Women Alone.”
• Imam Ahmad permitted women’s testimony alone in incidents occurring in women-only settings (e.g., bathhouses).
• Ibn Uthaymeen on women’s testimony for the Ramadan crescent moon (Sharḥ al-Mumti’, 6/326):

“This is a religious report in which males and females are equal, just as males and females are equal in narration.”

Ibn Hazm’s Overarching Principle

Al-Kattani’s induction:

“There is no issue in which the jurists differed between those who were strict on women and those who were easy, except that Ibn Hazm took the path of ease — and in his view women are like men except for what the evidence specifies.”

Inheritance — The Real Numbers

Moroccan jurist Sheikh Mustafa bin Hamza in The Dignity of Women in Islamic Legislation:

The percentage of cases in which a man receives more than a woman does not exceed 16.34% of total inheritance cases. The rest is either equality or the woman receives more than the man.

On “Nushūz” (Marital Discord)

The word nushūz is Quranic for both genders — appearing in Surat al-Nisa, verses 34 and 128.

On Disciplining a Wife

• The jurists state that while ḍarb (striking) is permitted, the majority consider leaving it to be better.
• It is not permitted from the first act of disobedience — only after repeated disobedience when sermonising and separation have failed.
• Ibn Hajar (Fatḥ al-Bārī, 11/639) on al-Bukhari’s chapter title “What is Disliked of Beating Women”:

“It indicates that beating is not permissible at all, but rather includes what is disliked as a matter of purification and prohibition.”

• ‘Ata’ ibn Abi Rabah (a Tabi’i jurist):

“He should not beat her even if he orders her and forbids her and she does not obey him, but he should become angry with her.”

• Ibn Arafa in Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī:

“Severe beating is not permissible even if the husband knows that she will not stop disobeying him — and if it happens, then she has the right to divorce him and to retaliate.”

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Closing — Sheikh Dr. Wahba al-Zuhayli

From a symposium of the Assembly of Sharia Scholars in America:

“Most of the rulings of the noble Sharia are shared equally by men and women — this amounts to 90% of doctrine, jurisprudence, and ethics. The difference comes in 10% — women take 5% in what pertains to them, and men take 5% of what pertains to them. This specialisation originally stems from the innate difference.”

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References

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