Economic rights for women

During sixth century Arabia, Women in Arabia at that time were essentially considered property and had absolutely no civil rights. Nabi S.A.W. gave them the right to own property and they were extended very important marital and inheritance rights.
Did you know that the daughters and wives of Sahaaba R.A. who inherited their husbands and father’s wealth, if they lived in any other part of the world at that time, they probably wouldn’t have been able to inherit.

France only allowed women to inherit in 1791.
It was only in 1848 that the Married Woman’s Property Act was passed in New York. This enabled married women to receive rent and inherit.

What about women and business dealings?
Khadija R.A. was a very successful businessman. If she lived in Europe, this would have not been possible for at least another 200 years. It was only in the 800’s that the Anglo-Saxon laws allowed women to own their own property, before and after marriage, and to conduct business as equals with men.

In the UK, up until the 1100’s. 500 years after the era of Nabi S.A.W., married women could still not own property.
It is for these reasons that the rights given to women in the time of Nabi S.A.W. was considered revolutionary. Female-run businesses, female property owners and female inheritors were unheard off in that era.

As far as inheritance is concerned, many argue, in the name of female rights, that Islamic inheritance allows a male to take double the amount of a female. This point actually speaks in favour of women, not against women….

Women are only given half as much as their brothers because the men have more financial responsibilities for family expenses. To provide for the household is a man’s responsibility regardless of the fact that the woman is earning or has property. It is wrong to demand that the earning woman or a woman with property should help to provide household expenses. Allah the Exalted has said that men have been given a distinction. Therefore, now that you have been given the right of a ‘Qawwaam’ (guardian/leader) you should fulfil your responsibilities to your wife and children; it is your obligation.