Islam is the true liberator of women. It has preserved the rights of a woman from the time she is a mere fetus in her mother's womb till the time she is laid down in her grave. Even after that:
1- If a woman is divorced during pregnancy, the father is obligated to support the mother while she is pregnant.
2- Islam protected the rights of a woman by not allowing a woman to be punished or incarcerated for a crime while she is pregnant as to not harm the baby. "When the woman from the Ghaamidi tribe came to Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam and said: Purify me. He sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam told her: "Wait till you deliver your baby."
3- Islam protected the rights of a woman when she is a baby being nursed. When that Ghaamidi woman delivered the baby and asked for her punishment, the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said: "Go and nurse your child till the child is capable of eating solid food." [Muslim]
4- Islam protected the rights of a woman as an infant by obligating the father to provide for food and clothing.
5- Islam protected the rights of a woman as a growing upchild by obligating the father to provide for her based on the general evidence related to the obligation of providing for children.
6- Islam protected the rights of a woman in matters of inheritance regardless of her age.
7- Islam protected the rights of a woman in choosing a suitable husband. She has the sole right to accept or refuse a proposal of marriage if she has been previously married. The Prophet has said: "A previously married woman cannot be married until she approves."
8- Islam protected the rights of a virgin woman. She cannot be married without her consent. The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said: "A virgin shall not be married until she is consulted." [Al-Bukhaari]
9- Islam protected the right of a woman to a dowry when she is wed by obligating the husband to provide it.
10- Islam protected the right of a woman to demand a divorce in exchange for something she gives to the husband if she no longer wishes to remain with him out of fear that she may not fulfill his rights (or for any other Islamically acceptable justification). The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said to a man whose wife had demanded a divorce she could not reach the state of loving him: "Accept the garden (the dowry as compensation) and divorce her." [Al-Bukhaari]
11- Islam protected the rights of a woman when she is divorced.
12- Islam protected the rights of a woman when she is widowed, by allotting her a portion of the inheritance.
13- Islam protected the rights of a woman when she is divorced before consummating the marriage by not obligating her to wait for 'Iddah (the prescribed period before she can remarry).
14- Islam protected the rights of a woman when she is an orphan by allotting her a portion of the spoils of war, an allowance from the treasury, permitting her to take charity, and encouraging people to help her.
15- Islam protected the rights of a woman in her social life and in her relationship with kith and kin by prohibiting her husband from marrying her sister or aunt.
16- Islam protected the rights of a woman regarding her self-respect by prohibiting men from lustfully looking at her.
17- Islam protected the rights of a woman by punishing anyone who accuses her of adultery without sufficient evidence.
18- Islam protected the rights of a woman if she is a mother by obligating her children to honor and respect her and prohibiting them from speaking back to her disrespectfully.
19- Islam protected the rights of a woman when she is breastfeeding her child by obligating the father to compensate her if she wants it.
20- Islam protected the rights of a woman when she is pregnant.
21- Islam protected the rights of a woman by obligating her husband to provide her housing.
22- Islam protected the rights of a woman by exempting her from fasting when she is pregnant or nursing.
23- Islam protects the woman's rights to choose to return to her husband who divorced her once or twice after the end of her prescribed waiting period with a new marriage contract. Islam prohibits preventing her from doing so if there is an agreement between the two parties. Allaah Almighty Says (what means): “… Do not prevent them (women) from remarrying their [former] husbands, if they mutually agree on equitable terms”. [Quran 2:232]
24- Islam protects the woman's rights to have custody over her children unless she remarries. The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said to a divorced woman asking for keeping her child under her custody: “You have more right over him unless you [re] marry”. [Ahmad and others]
25- Islam protects the woman's rights during her menses by forbidding sexual intercourse with her, due to the harm it causes her and guarding against her feeling of repulsion. Allaah Says (what means): “…Keep away from wives during menstruation…” [Quran 2:222]
26- Islam protects the woman's rights during her menses by allowing the act of loving-making, fondling and foreplay without the actual intercourse. This is a proof that the aim is not to avoid contact with women in this period; rather to avoid intercourse due to the harm it causes.
27- Islam protects the woman's rights to dignity and honor during her menses. There are examples in the way the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam to treat his wives during this period to support this. 'Aa'ishah may Allaah be pleased with her narrated: “We (she and the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) used to drink from the same cup; he would put his mouth on the same spot I drank from and would finish my drink when I was in menses”. She also narrated: “While in menses, I used to comb the hair of Allaah's Apostle sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam.” And: “The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam used to lean on my lap and recite the Quran while I was in menses.” And: “We would sleep together in one cloth while I was in menses”.
28- Islam protects the woman's rights by prohibiting having anal intercourse with her, as this is considered unjust and wasteful of her rights.
29- Islam protects the woman's rights against incriminating her of committing acts of fornication without the testimony of four witnesses. Allaah Says in the Quran (what means): “Those who commit immorality [i.e. unlawful sexual intercourse] of your women – bring against them four witnesses from among you...” [Quran 4:15]
30- Islam protects the woman's rights by forbidding killing women in wartime, even if they were atheists. The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam forbade the killing of women and children during wartime.
31- Islam protected the rights of a woman by granting her the right to a will.
32- Islam protected the rights of a woman even after death, and this is for men and women, for, in Islam, harming or abusing the dead is like abusing the living. An evidence for this is the Hadeeth (Prophet's saying): "Breaking a dead person's bone is like breaking his /her bone while alive." [Abu Daawood]
33- Islam protected the rights of a woman (as well as a man) when she is in her grave. The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said: "It is better for you to sit on burning ambers and your clothes are burned till your skin rather than sitting on a grave".
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