Democrats false claim of the “Republican War on Women”, while supporting Islam & Sharia Law.

Democrats false claim of the “Republican War on Women”, while supporting Islam & Sharia Law.

Women's Rights Under Sharia Law

Overview

Sharia law is an Islamic legal system which provides an Islamic alternative to secular models of governance. Women in societies governed by sharia have far fewer rights than women in the West.

Muslim-majority societies have varying degrees of sharia integrated into their law codes, but almost all use sharia to govern family affairs. Sharia courts also exist in a number of Western countries, particularly to adjudicate family law for Muslim citizens.

Marital Rights

• A man is entitled to up to four wives, but a woman may only have one husband. In Western societies, a man typically only takes one wife.
• The husband (or his family) pays a “bride price” or "dower" (mahr, which is money or property paid to the bride) which she is entitled to keep. This “mahr” is in exchange for sexual submission (tamkin). Sexual submission is traditionally regarded as unconditional consent for the remainder of the marriage.
• A man can divorce his wife by making a declaration (talaq) in front of an Islamic judge irrespective of the woman's consent. Even her presence is not required. For a woman to divorce a man (khula), his consent is required.
• The husband is responsible for the financial upkeep of home (nafaqa).
• Wife beating permitted according to some scholars.
• There is no joint property; the man owns all property, (except for what the woman owned before the marriage).
• There is no specific minimum age for marriage, but most agree a woman must have reached puberty. Marriage as young as 12 or 13 is not uncommon in Muslim-majority countries, "Nearly 14 percent of Yemeni girls [are] married before the age of 15 and 52 percent before the age of 18."
• Muslim Feminists such as Dr. Elham Manea argue that the interpretation of sharia in the area of marriage amounts to discrimination, the type of which is prohibited under Western legal systems.

Public Rights

Most Muslim-majority countries are not democracies, so issues of who can vote do not apply. Nevertheless, women still have a significantly reduced role in the public sphere in these countries compared to men.

Conservative ideas of gender roles are taken very seriously in Islamic societies. Even in the West, where Muslim women have the same legal rights as men, they have been prevented from exercising those rights by their male relatives.

Under sharia, women have:

• Lesser inheritance rights compared to men
• Lesser status as witnesses

In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive.

Modesty Laws

Many Muslim women respect the requirement to dress modestly and choose to do so. However, in Muslim-majority countries, women do not necessarily have the choice not to do so. Failure to comply with modesty laws has been known to elicit extreme violence from police in places like Iran, Afghanistan and Sudan.

Garments women are required to wear range from a hijab (a scarf covering the hair and neck), an abaya (a cloak-like, loose-fitting overgarment), a niqab (a face veil worn in addition to the hijab and abaya) to a burqa (a full-body and head cloak which includes a netted rectangle over the eyes).

Violations of modesty laws are frequently met with violence in Muslim countries. Western women visiting Muslim-majority countries – for example, Saudi Arabia -- are advised to dress modestly and not to travel unaccompanied by a man.

Male Guardianship

Male Guardianship applies to all women whether married or not according to strict interpretations of sharia. In the event of the deaths of male relatives, it can result in mothers being legally subservient to their sons. Under sharia:

• A woman becomes subservient to her husband and needs his permission to: "leave the house, take up employment, or to engage in fasting or forms of worship other than what is obligatory."
• An unmarried woman is under the guardianship of her nearest male relative.

Human Rights Watch has issued a 50-page report condemning the situation of women in Saudi Arabia alone.

Who Is Affected by Sharia?

Any Muslim woman who undertakes to be married under Islam is bound to a greater or lesser extent by sharia, depending on where they live. Muslim women living in Western countries are bound by the laws of the countries in which they live as well, whereas women living in countries such as Saudi Arabia are bound by sharia alone. In case where sharia and the law of the land conflict, a woman is bound by sharia law.

Glossary of Terms Used in Sharia Law

Ghairah – Male sexual honor and jealousy.

Hayah – Female sexual modesty and shyness.

Khula – Female Initiated divorce. This is very difficult to obtain, and requires the consent of the husband. Technically a woman can appeal to an Islamic court to force the husband into a divorce, but in practice this rarely ever happens.

Mahr – Bride-price paid by the groom's family to the bride. This money becomes legally her property.

Nafaqa – Maintenance, the woman's right to be financially supported by her husband.

Nushuz – A legal state of disobedience if a wife does not obey her husband.

Talaq – 'Repudiation of the wife.' Male initiated divorce. This is extremely easy to obtain. The husband's declaration of talaq causes the divorce to come into effect.

Tamkin – Sexual submission of the wife to her husband.