Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
5. Muslim women
~ 105 ~
not engaged in entertainment but as a matter of
necessity. They were meant to build up the family
on proper lines and were in no sense intended to
establish women’s equality with men in the outside
world.
98. Qur’an, 57:11.
99. Ibn Kathir,
Tafsir,
4/308.
WOMEN’S POSITION
The honorable position accorded by Islam to
woman is symbolically demonstrated by the
performance of the rite of
sa’i,
as an important part
of the pilgrimage to Mecca, made at least once in a
lifetime as a religious duty by all believers who can
afford the journey. The rite of
sa’i
is performed by
running back and forth seven times between Safa
and Marwah, two hillocks near the Ka’bah. This
running, enjoined upon every pilgrim, be they rich
or poor, literate or illiterate, Kings or commoners, is
in imitation of the desperate quest of Hajar (Hagar),
Abraham’s wife, for water to quench the thirst of
her crying infant when they arrived in this dry
desert country, four thousand years ago, at God’s