Are Muslim Women Really Oppressed? Why Females Inherit Less Than Males In Islam

In Islam, a man is supposed to be looking after the women whom he is the guardian of. The closest male relative is supposed to be providing the basics for the females whom he is closest to. In terms of the sharia, it's either a husband or an adult son or a father or a brother. If those are non-existent, meaning stage by stage depending, if one is not there then it goes to the other. If one has run away from his duty, it goes to the other. It doesn't mean you leave her on the street. So, a woman in fact does not really need money for anything that is a necessity. If she has money, it’s for her own luxury.

The woman doesn't have to look after someone with her wealth. She has got no duties, besides the zakat (the Islamic obligatory charity), to be paid with that wealth. But if a man has wealth, he has duties and obligations upon those whom he is the guardian of; his children, his wife, maybe his mother and sister (if the father is not around). So, there are so many obligations.

So, by right, a woman a long time ago used to be inherited herself. When a man owed another man money, and if he died, they would say: “Okay just give me his daughter and forget about the money. Just give me his wife, the widow, and forget about the money.”

What dignity did Islam bring to those women?

Islam prohibited all that. So much so that even the marriages where someone says: “I will marry your sister and you will marry my sister and we will cut out the dowry.” That’s wrong and completely unacceptable.

Islam honored the woman by saying: “You know what? You are not a commodity. You are not a mere tool for business.”

Today, if you look at women, they have been reduced to a tool of businesses to advertise. For example, if they want to advertise electric cables, they'll have a naked woman next to it. Doing what?! So, to advertise anything, they have a woman. Why? Because she doesn't realize they've been reduced to a little tool of attraction. This is why the women of the West sometimes realize what's going on and they say: “You know, I've been brought up just to impress and attract the opposite sex, and I've been made to understand that’s what life is all about.”

When they see the beauty of Islam, they realize the value for themselves. They are linked with Allah. It's not all about impressing the opposite sex.

Allah forbids a woman to be sold or to be used as a commodity. In fact, she will be acknowledged as a human being by giving her a share even though she doesn't really need something. Allah says in the Quran:

For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much - an obligatory share.

[Noble Quran 4:7]

Now let me give you an example: a man dies, he leaves behind one son and one daughter. He leaves behind 75 million. So, the son gets 50 million and the daughter gets 25 million. This daughter is not married, her father just passed away, and she only has one brother. So, now what happens to her? Islam says that the 25 million is hers. She can do what she wants with it. On the other hand, her brother who has 50 million must look after his wife, children and his sister with this money and provide them with all their basic requirements. Therefore, the male is the one who has more money. This man must share his money, but the female is still having it and it's all hers. Look at who got more, but people don't look as deep as that.