Imam Khomeini\u2019s (may his secret be sanctified) View of the Status of Women in Islam.<\/p>\n
Imam Khomeini\u2019s (may his secret be sanctified) View of the Status of Women in Islam
\nThe Imam (may his secret be sanctified) paid great attention to the issue of women, to the extent that he designated a special day for them to be renewed every year, so that their issues, rights, and activities would always remain present. He said:
\n\u201cBlessed be the great Iranian nation, especially the \u0645\u062d\u062a\u0631\u0645 women, on the blessed Day of Women \u2014 the glorious day of that radiant jewel who was the foundation of human virtues and the lofty values of \u2018God\u2019s vicegerency\u2019 in the world.\u201d [1]\nHe chose for women one of the most honorable days in human history and one of the dearest days to his heart: the birthday of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her). That perfect human being, whom he described as \u201cthe foundation of human virtues and lofty values.\u201d Choosing this particular day for women was not a coincidence; rather, it achieves two purposes at once.
\nOn the one hand, it highlights the importance of women and their essential role in society \u2014 a role embodied by Lady al-Zahra (peace be upon her) in its most magnificent form, most complete state, and highest degree. On the other hand, it is the day of the righteous and perfect role model for women. The day from which women set forth each year is the day of Lady al-Zahra (peace be upon her), so that she may represent the example that should be presented to women, and whose path and light women should follow.
\nAll of this points to the importance of women and their lofty status in the view of Imam Khomeini (may his secret be sanctified), and consequently in the view of authentic Islam.
\nWhat Islam Has Offered to Women
\n\u201cIslam served women in a manner unprecedented in history. It rescued women from that mire, honored them, and made them human beings with dignity and personality.\u201d [2]\n\u201cIslam did not serve men in the way it served women. You do not know what the condition of women was in the Age of Ignorance, and what it became in Islam.\u201d [3]\nAccording to material standards, it was not easy for that great man to stand among the people of the Age of Ignorance and proclaim:
\n\u201cAnd when the female infant buried alive is asked, for what sin she was killed.\u201d [4]\nWithin a few short years, this noble Prophet \u2014 through a miracle and divine support \u2014 was able to transform that rigid society which had usurped women\u2019s rights and despised them, to the point of physically burying them alive after having already buried their status spiritually and reducing them to a source of corruption in society.
\nIslam transformed a society described in the Qur\u2019an as:
\n\u201cAnd when one of them is given news of a female (child), his face darkens, and he suppresses grief. He hides himself from the people because of the evil of what he has been given news of. Shall he keep her in humiliation or bury her in the dust? Unquestionably, evil is what they decide.\u201d [5]\n\u2014 into a society where:
\n\u201cParadise lies beneath the feet of mothers,\u201d
\n\u201cFatimah is the mother of her father,\u201d
\nand \u201cThe best of children are the sheltered daughters; whoever has one, Allah makes her a shield for him from the Fire,\u201d
\nas reported in the noble Prophetic traditions.
\nThis is only part of what Islam offered to women from the very beginning of its \u0638\u0647\u0648\u0631.
\nThis service to women does not benefit women alone; rather, it is a service to all humanity and to society as a whole. The Imam (may his secret be sanctified) said:
\n\u201cIslam bestowed a great favor upon humanity by delivering women from the oppression in which they were submerged during the Age of Ignorance. In their view, she was lower than an animal and was oppressed. Islam was the one that rescued her from the swamp of ignorance.\u201d [6]\nWith every absence of Islam from society throughout history, the status of women declines; and with every renewed radiance of Islam, her status rises again in society, returning her to her humanity.
\n\u201cToday, women \u2014 this active member of society \u2014 have regained their status, to some extent, by the blessing of the Islamic revival.\u201d [7]\nFrom the book: Women in the Thought of Imam Khomeini (may his secret be sanctified) \u2013 Islamic Cultural Knowledge Association
\nReferences:
\n[1] Short Sayings, p. 285.
\n[2] Speech dated 9\/11\/1978.
\n[3] Speech dated 9\/11\/1978.
\n[4] Qur\u2019an, Surah al-Takwir (81:8\u20139).
\n[5] Qur\u2019an, Surah al-Nahl (16:58\u201359).
\n[6] Speech on the occasion of Women\u2019s Day, 6\/5\/1979.
\n[7] Speech on the occasion of Women\u2019s Day, 5\/5\/1980.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imam Khomeini\u2019s (may his secret be sanctified) View of the Status of Women in Islam. Imam Khomeini\u2019s (may his secret be sanctified) View of the Status of Women in Islam The Imam (may his secret be sanctified) paid great attention to the issue of women, to the extent that he designated a special day for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-women-in-islam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28988,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28982\/revisions\/28988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}