Surah an-Nisa' (Women ) 4 : 32

Overview (Verse 32)

Honour for Both Men and Women
 
Do not covet the bounties God has bestowed more abundantly on some of you than on others. Men shall have a benefit of what they earn and women shall have a benefit of what they earn. Therefore, ask God to give you out of His bounty. God is a witness of everything. (Verse 32)
 
This verse, together with the one that follows, continue the discussion of the ties and transactions which exist between men and women. They also speak of the covenants of loyalty and their relevance to the system of inheritance that this sūrah discusses earlier.
 
First, we have a general prohibition against coveting the gifts God has favoured some believers with. This is a general statement that applies to all sorts of favours and privileges, which may include functions, positions, abilities, talents, wealth and other luxuries. A believer should appeal to God and pray to Him to grant him of His grace. He should not waste time feeling sorry for himself nor with all that such an attitude generates of harbouring grudges and greed, of feeling angry, deprived, or unjustly treated. Such feelings may give rise to thinking ill of God and His fair distribution. To harbour such a feeling is disastrous because it substitutes worry and misery for content and self confidence. Entertaining such evil thoughts wastes one’s energy. To turn to God directly and to pray to Him for His grace is to turn to the source of all grace; it can never be exhausted and does not repel anyone. Moreover, it is in God that all hopes are placed and to Him alone that one should turn as one goes about, seeking one’s share of God’s grace.
 
As has already been said, this is a general directive. The fact that it comes at this point in the sūrah, as well as in a number of reports which speak of the occasion when it was revealed, may indicate that this verse refers specifically to a certain type of favour, namely, the difference in shares of inheritance between men and women. This is an extremely important aspect of the relationship between the two sexes which needs to be established on the solid foundation of mutual acceptance and complementarity, so that contentment prevails in the family and the Muslim society at large. Despite the importance of this aspect, it does not limit the generality of the statement. Authoritative commentaries on the Qur’ān speak of both aspects, giving reports in support of both:
 
Umm Salamah, a wife of the Prophet, once said to him: “Messenger of God, men fight when we do not, and we receive half a share of inheritance.” God subsequently revealed: “Do not covet the bounties God has bestowed more abundantly on some of you than on others.”
 
Another report also quotes Umm Salamah as saying to the Prophet: “Messenger of God, we do not fight so that we may be martyrs, and we do not have an equal share of inheritance”. This verse was then revealed. Later, God revealed the verse in which He says: “I will not suffer the work of any worker among you, male or female, to be lost.” (3:195)
 
Al-Suddī, an early commentator on the Qur’ān, mentions that some men said: “We want to have twice the reward of women, in the same way as we have two shares of inheritance.” Some women said: “We want to have a reward similar to that of martyrs. We cannot fight. Had we been required to fight, we would have done so.” God turned down all that and said to them: “Pray for My grace.” A similar view is attributed to another commentator, named Qatādah.
 
Other commentators stress the generality of the verse. Ibn `Abbās is quoted as saying: “No one should say: I wish I had as much money or as many children as this or that person. God has prohibited all that. He should pray to God to grant him of His grace.” Similar views have been expressed by Al-Ĥasan, Muĥammad ibn Sīrīn,`Aţā’ and others.
 
The first three reports suggest the presence of un-Islamic concepts in the relationship between men and women. There is also an air of competition between men and women. This is probably the result of the new freedoms and rights given by Islam to women, in accordance with its overall concept which honours the human race and treats both sexes with fairness. Islam, however, wants its complete system to be implemented, as a whole, not for the benefit of men at the expense of women, nor for the benefit of women at the expense of men. It wants its system to be implemented for the benefit of humanity as a whole, and for the benefit of Muslim society as it establishes the values of propriety, morality, goodness and absolute justice.
 
In its distribution of the functions and shares of inheritance between men and women, Islam observes human nature, which has made man different from woman and given each of them his or her distinctive characteristics. This is to enable them to discharge their respective duties, not for their own benefit but for the benefit of human life, which can only achieve proper fulfilment and its ultimate objectives through the multiplicity of characteristics, functions and duties between the two different sexes. Because the characteristics and functions of man and woman are different, their positions and shares vary. The ultimate beneficiary is that great institution which we call human life.
 
When we consider the Islamic system as a whole and then consider that particular aspect which organises relationships between the two parts of the single soul from which both men and women have been created, we find no room for such ancient arguments of the type mentioned in the reports quoted above. Nor can we find any room for modern arguments advanced by shallow-minded people of both sexes.
 
It is useless and futile to try to depict matters as if a raging battle is going on between the two sexes in which points and victories are scored. The attempt by some serious writers to discredit women and to attribute all sorts of vices to them is equally futile, whether it is made in the name of Islam or under the guise of scholarly analysis. There is no question of a battle whatsoever. There are simply differences of characteristics and potentials. Differences in the proper distribution of tasks and specialities which achieves both complementarity and absolute justice, as can only be expected from the Divine method.
 
There may be a battle of this sort in ignorant societies which initiate their own systems according to their will and which serve their immediate interests, or, more probably, to serve the interests of certain classes, families or individuals. Such societies may deprive women of certain rights due to their defective understanding of man as a whole and the function of each of the two sexes. On the other hand, they may deprive women of some of their rights for economic reasons, such as giving a woman a lesser wage than a man who does the same job, or giving her a smaller share of inheritance or depriving her of the right to manage her own property.
 
There can be no room whatsoever for such a battle under Islam. There is no point in competing for worldly benefits or for an attack on either man or woman in order to undermine their positions and magnify their weaknesses. Given an Islamic outlook, no one can imagine that men and women, who are different in their characteristics and physical constitutions, should not have different tasks, duties and positions. To imagine that is to betray a total misunderstanding of the Islamic system and the nature of both sexes and their respective functions.

Differences between the Sexes
 
Let us now consider the question of jihād and martyrdom, and women’s share in all that. This was a question of concern to God- fearing women in the noble first generation of Muslims, which was distinguished by its dedication to the hereafter as it looked after its daily affairs. We will also consider the question of inheritance and the shares assigned by Islam to men and women. This question not only preoccupied some men and women in the past but continues to be raised even today.
 
God has not imposed the duty to fight on women. Nor has He forbidden them to fight when there is need for their participation in jihād alongside men. In Islamic wars a number of individual women took an active part in the fighting, thus not confining themselves to support duties alone. Their numbers, however, were very few, taking part only when needed. This was by no means the normal practice. It was the exception, not the rule, because God, in His wisdom, has not made fighting obligatory for women.
 
Women have not been required to fight in war because they give birth to men who do the fighting. By her physical and psychological constitution, a woman is made to give birth to men and to bring them up so that they can face life and participate in jihād when necessary. In this particular domain, her ability and usefulness is greater than that of man. Every single cell in her body is made physically and psychologically suitable for this purpose. This is not merely a question of physical constitution. It applies to every single cell, from the moment of conception and the decision made by the Creator, praised be He, which determines the sex of that pregnancy. Physical, organic, and psychological factors take secondary importance. She is also more useful when one considers long-term national interests.
 
When men fall dead in war, leaving behind women, the nation is left with productive members who give birth to children in order to compensate for the decrease in their numbers. The same cannot be the case if war were to claim the lives of women and men in equal numbers, or were it to claim the lives of more women than men. Under Islam, a single man using all the concessions and abilities available to him can make four women produce children in order to fill the vacuum left after the slaughter that takes place in war. A thousand men cannot make a single woman produce more children than one man can in order to redress the balance that takes place in society after war. This is only one aspect of the Divine wisdom behind relieving women of the duty of fighting. Other aspects relate to social morality and the nature of society, as well as the need to preserve the essential qualities of both sexes. This is a subject which deserves fuller treatment. As for reward, both men and women are reassured by God. It is sufficient for every human being to do well in fulfilling the tasks assigned to him or her in order to achieve a good position with God.
 
As for inheritance, it may appear at first glance that the general rule which assigns “to the male a share equal to that of two females” favours man. This superficial view, however, will soon disappear to be replaced by a comprehensive treatment of the respective positions of man and woman and their mutually complementary duties. A basic rule in the Islamic system states that “gain is commensurate with duty”. The man pays a dowry to the woman when he marries her, while she pays him no dowry whatsoever. He supports her and their children while she is exempt from such a duty, even when she has money of her own. The least that can happen to a man who is negligent of this duty is that he be imprisoned. A man is required to pay the ransom and compensation for accidental death and injuries caused to others by members of his family, while a woman is exempt from all this.
 
Moreover, a man is required to support the insolvent and those who are unable to earn their living in his family, according to their degree of kinship, while the woman is exempt from the duty of mutual family support. When divorce or separation takes place, the man pays his divorced or estranged wife compensation for breast-feeding his child and for her custody in the same way as he pays her own maintenance. As we see, then, the Islamic system is a comprehensive one, which distributes inheritance according to the distribution of liabilities. Since the man bears more liabilities than the woman, his share of inheritance is greater.
 
This system also takes into consideration human nature and man’s ability to earn his family’s livelihood and to provide the woman with security and comfort so that she can discharge her responsibilities in bringing up the new generation. No monetary value can be placed on this responsibility of hers. Her contribution to the general welfare of society is far superior to any product or service that anyone can render. We can, then, discern the elements of perfect balance in the Islamic system, laid down by the One whose knowledge and wisdom are absolute.
 
Let us consider here the right of individual ownership given by Islam to women: “Men shall have a benefit of what they earn and women shall have a benefit of what they earn.” (Verse 32) This right was denied to women by the ignorant society of Arabia as well as by other ignorant societies of the past. Very rarely were women’s right to own acknowledged. Indeed, even when it was acknowledged, ways and means were found to deprive her of that right. The woman herself was considered an object, the ownership of which could be transferred by inheritance, in the same way as other possessions.
 
Modern ignorant societies, which claim to have given women rights and afforded them respect unequalled under any other system, still try to deny women their right to inheritance. Some of these societies give the whole estate to the eldest male heir. Others make it necessary for a woman who wants to make any financial transaction to obtain the prior consent of her guardian, and they even make it necessary for a woman to have her husband endorse any financial deal she makes with her own property before it can go through. This remains the case even after the revolutions made by women to achieve their emancipation. Such actions have, indeed, led to undermining the position of women in both the family and society as also weakened public morality.
 
Islam has given the right of individual ownership to women of its own accord. Women did not have to launch a revolution, form women’s societies or enter parliament in order to claim such a right. Islam’s motives are found in its overall view of humanity. It considers that both parts of the single soul, from which men and women issue forth, are honourable. Moreover, it makes the family the basic unit of its social system. Hence, the atmosphere in the family must be one of love and mutual care. The rights of every individual in the family are safeguarded. It is for this reason that Islam gives both men and women equal rights of earning and ownership.
 
Before we finish our commentary on this verse, we would like to give the following quotation from Dr `Abd al-Wāĥid Wafī who explains in his book, Human Rights, the status of women in Islam as compared to their status in the West.
 
Islam gives both man and woman an equal status in Front of the law and in all civil rights. This equality applies to married and unmarried women alike. Under Islam, marriage is different from what is practised in most Western countries. A Muslim woman does not lose her name, civil status, and eligibility to make contracts or right of ownership when she gets married. After her marriage, she retains the surname of her own family and continues to enjoy all her rights as before, including the undertaking of any responsibility and entering into any contract, to sell, buy, pledge, make a gift or a will, etc. She also continues to enjoy her right of independent ownership. Under Islam, a married woman is accorded all her civil rights and she may have her own wealth independently from that of her husband, who may not take any part of her money, small or large. God says in the Qur’ān: “If you wish to take one wife in place of another and you have given the first one a large sum of money, do not take away anything of it. Would you take it away though that constitutes a gross injustice and a manifest sin? How can you take it away when each of you has been privy with the other, and they have received from you a most solemn pledge?” (Verses 20-21) He also says: “It is not lawful for you to take back anything of what you have given them as dowry.” (2: 229) If a husband is forbidden to take anything of what he had originally given to his wife when he married her, then it is even more unlawful for him to take any part of her own property, unless she gives it to him willingly and freely. On this particular point, God states: “Give women their dower as a free gift; but if they, of their own accord, choose to give up to you a part of it, then you may take it with pleasure.” (Verse 4) Nor is it lawful for a husband to dispose of any part of his wife’s property unless she permits him to do so or gives him a power of attorney to make a contract on her behalf. When she gives him such a power of attorney, she retains the right to cancel it and to give a similar power of attorney to someone else.
 
Even the most civilised of contemporary democracies do not aspire to this standard of equality between men and women. Until very recently, indeed until today, the status of women in France was not much better than that of civil bondage. The law deprives her of the authority to act in many a civil matter. Article 217 of French Civil Law states that “even when a marriage stipulates that the properties of husband and wife are to remain separate, a married woman may not dispose of anything by way of gift, assignment, mortgage or pledge, and may not come into the ownership of anything in return for some or no consideration, unless her husband is party to the contract or gives his consent to it in writing.
 
Despite the numerous amendments that have been introduced to this Article, much of its import still overshadows the status of women under French law. Western laws emphasise this bondage imposed on women by endorsing the tradition that a woman loses her own family name at the moment when she gets married. She is no longer called after her father. She adopts her husband’s family name instead. This is simply a token of the loss of her legal status which is merged with that of her husband’s.
 
Strangely enough, many of our own women try to imitate Western women even in this unjust system. They accept for themselves this low status when they adopt their husbands’ family names, instead of retaining the names of their own families as is the case under the Islamic system. Ironically speaking, this blind imitation is practised by the very women who pose as defenders of the rights of women and advocates of equality between them and men. They are unaware that by their action, they trample over their most important right which has been given to them by Islam to elevate them to the status of equality with men.