Woman Between Islam and Western Society
5. Position of Woman in the Islamic Shari‘ah
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neither man nor woman need have a superiority or
an inferiority complex.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMAN IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIETY
According to Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah, the Prophet once
observed: “The throne of Iblis (Satan), the chief of
the devils, is situated above the seas, whence he
sends his bands to lead human beings astray. To
Iblis, the most worthy of the devils is the one who
causes the greatest wickedness. The devils visit him
as their chief to report their deeds to him, and Iblis
gives a hearing to all of them. On one occasion, Iblis
remained unimpressed with their achievements,
until one of the devils came and told him that he
had pursued a husband and wife until he managed
to separate them. He had achieved this by causing
them to have doubts and misgivings about one
another. Iblis was so overjoyed to hear this that he
drew him to him in a close embrace, saying, “Yes,
you did it,” meaning that he had really managed to
lead human beings astray.”
52
This
hadith
shows that Satan’s greatest weapons in
perverting human society are the conflict and
