Re-evaluating Gender Equality in light of Principle of Justice in Islam

Abstract

Islam, like every other live and dynamic school of thought, has its own principles and foundations. One such progressive principle is the principle of justice in accordance with which it shaped the world of creation. Abiding by this principle requires us to treat equals equally and unequals unequally. We also know that the rights and privileges given by Islam to men are different from those given to women. For example, women's share of inheritance is not the same as that of men. Similarly, Islam's approach is not the same towards men and women when it comes to witnessing or blood money. Now the question is: given that Islam approves of the principle of justice, how can one explain why Islam has treated men and women unequally? Are men and women two totally different unequal entities, requiring different ordinances and rights? Or does Islam consider them as equals, though it treats them unequally due to social circumstances? Or there is no inequality or difference between men and women in terms of ordinances and rights and the claimed differences are something that needs to be reviewed. Though each one of the said approaches has its own proponents and advocates, given that each suffers from certain flaws and shortcomings, the present paper tries to follow a synthetic approach relying on all previous approaches in one way or the other. According to this new approach many of the things we consider today as different privileges for men and women are not something taken for granted- they can be reviewed and reconsidered having thus nothing to do with Islam. In cases where differences are certain, the differences need to be attributed either to social circumstances or to the particular ontological structures man and woman have.