by Stephanie Davis

Created on: August 27, 2009   Last Updated: August 28, 2009

As a Christian I have heard Islam referred to as a religion of Satan and other similar names. I have been fascinated with Islam ever since I was a teenager in high school. In today's world, Islam has to be both the most misunderstood and mysterious religion in the world. Probably the most common misunderstanding about Islam is its stance on the rights and roles of women.

The Western media often presents us with a negative connotation of how Muslim women are treated. There, of course, is also the centuries-old myth of women being kept locked in harems as sex slaves for a rich sheik or a sultan. We often cite the treatment of women under the Taliban in Afghanistan and with the mutawwa in Saudi Arabia. There is no denying that in Islamic countries women are denied their rights due to them by the Quran in favor of pre Islamic tribal customs. What are those rights that women are guaranteed in Islam?

First a woman has a right to inherit and to own property. While she may only inherit half of what a male would she usually will fare better. A man must use any money to support his family first and foremost. It is only logical that he would inherit more because he has more obligations, where a woman can do with the money as she pleases. She is not obligated to spend it to support her family unless she chooses to do so. Hence she will have more than a man to spend on her own personal use. I see nowhere in the Bible in both the New and Old Testaments where a Christian woman was given the right to own property. Until a century ago in the USA and Britain when a woman married her property was given to her husband to do with as he wished and there was nothing she could do about it. This is not the case in Islam. When a Muslim woman marries she retains the right to her property, her husband cannot take it from her. She can also run and own a business. One only has to look at Khadija the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad as an example. She was a wealthy business woman and was not forced to give over her wealth and business to her husband.

Second, is the mahr. Before an Islamic marriage can be validated the husband has to give the woman a mahr or dowry. This can be in the form of money , jewelry, property or whatever else the woman may stipulate. There is no set amount and this should not be confused with bride price where the woman's father is compensated for the loss of his daughter. The mahr is a wedding gift from a husband to the wife and she can do with it as she sees fit.

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