Source & Credit: Jersey City Islam Examine
By Kashif Chaudhry | Englewood, NJ | May 27, 2010
A very good colleague of mine from Pakistan, daughter of a notable working lady, once said to me: “I am becoming a doctor and will work alongside men and even examine them, but deep inside I know that I am committing a Sin. I am being a bad Muslim by working as a doctor”
Islam forbids a woman working outdoors might be the impression that commonly dominates the minds of people in the West. The same belief is held by many Muslims living in different parts of the world. Despite this, Muslim women, especially those living in the West, do work. These include those that work in a ‘mixed sex’ environment, believing that though it is forbidden to do so in Islam, they are too weak in faith to act on this tenet and others who work without a hint of guilt. The latter class of ‘Moderate Muslims’, including the Ahmadiyya Muslims believe that Islam lays no restriction on women working outdoors, provided a set standard of modesty is practiced. They believe that not only does Islam not prohibit women from working but that it was the first faith to encourage them to do so.
Women lived in miserable social conditions before the advent of Islam in Arabia. Islam came as a rescue and whereas women were not commonly allowed to work respectfully before, early Islamic history is full of examples of women who worked as physicians, nurses, even generals. The first lady of the history of Islam was a successful and leading businesswoman of Mecca. Khadija was the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] and the Quran mentions her as a role model for Muslim women. Muslim hospitals were the first to employ women as nurses and physicians at an age where they were rarely given that position in the rest of the world. An important factor that led to a NEED for women taking up jobs in early Muslim society was the prohibition of a free intermingling of the opposite sexes, which required females working in professions that largely dealt with other women.
Islam provides a perfect solution for one’s social problems and its teachings ensure social development and stability. Whereas it defines gender roles to some extent, in that women are the ones primarily assigned to take care of the rearing of the future generation and men are responsible for financially supporting the household, Islam does not disallow women from any outside work as long as their primary duties are carried out appropriately and the ‘future generation’ is not deprived of its due care and attention. To work is a woman’s right. Islam in fact encourages the practice of this right, hence the teaching of Purdah or ‘Hijab’ in Islam [We will discuss the Islamic ‘Hijab’ in a coming article]. If women were to be confined within the walls of their household, there was no reason to protect them from the eyes of others. The teaching of ‘Hijab’ in itself was a license to go out and take active roles in society, yet maintain one’s modesty and protect one’s chastity, another important teaching of Islam.
Many Muslim-dominated countries today are notorious for their abuse of women rights but whereas this can be blamed on the culture and traditional makeup of these societies and to the conservative attitudes rooted within, Islam is clear of all charges. The Quran has nothing to suggest that women could not work outdoors. Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the fourth caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community says, “Women are free to work as they please as long as they are unmarried and their parents have no objection, and as long as they are married and their husbands have no objection”. To those who think it is forbidden for women to work - where is the scriptural proof?
Read original post here: Does Islam forbid women from work?
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