Gender roles in Islam

The Quran, the holiest book in Islam, indicates that men and women are spiritual equals. The Quran 4:124 states:

"If any do deeds of righteousness be they male or female and have faith, they will enter Heaven, and not the least injustice will be done to them."

But this notion of equality has not been reflected in many of the laws in Muslim-based institutions.

The Quran does not specify specific gender roles for women. However, in Islamic practice, gender roles manifest themselves, partially because men and women are sometimes allotted different rights and different cultural expectations.

Viewpoints regarding gender roles vary with different interpretations of the Quran, different sects of the religion, and different cultural and locational regions.

Salafiyyah literally means "that which pertains to ancestry". It was first conceived by Muhammad Abduh and refers back to the first generation of Muslims who supported Muhammad during the seventh century. It is an Arabic term that denotes fundamentalism.

The ideas of Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz are characteristic of much of the salafiyyah sect. Bin Baz believed that the engagement of women in “male domains” separates them from their God-given nature, eventually leading to women's misery and demise. He believed that women entering “male domains” posed a danger to Muslim society, eventually causing it to fall into moral decay. Additionally, he asserted that a woman outside the home was a woman denying her true, God-given character. He viewed the involvement of women in male domains as a detriment to the next generation, which he says may receive a worse education and less compassion from their mothers. BinBaz also thought that women should only work in certain fields—those that are within a woman's domain—such as female education, nursing and medical care. But even these must obey a strict separation of gender.

The Qur'anic and prophetic terms for "moderation" are reflected in the word "wasatiyyah," which means the "middle way between extremes" and "upright without losing balance."

Muhammad Al-Ghazali's ( ) ideas characterize much of the wasatiyyah school of thought. His ideas are shared by other notable and influential people including Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Abdel-Haleem AbuShaqua, and Hasan al-Turabi. Together they represent a growing modernist trend.Al-Ghazali indicated that Islam suggest a significant sense of equality between men and women. He maintained that there are traditions created by people and not by God that slow women's development and keeps them in religious ignorance, which he believes results in the degradation of the whole Muslim community. Ghazali asserts that women have been denied a say in their communities and have been restricted to domestic service. He also called for a change in Islamic thinking in general and the reevaluation of cultural traditions that are attributed wrongly as central to the Islamic faith.

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