Woman Between Islam and Western Society
6. The Rights of Husband and Wife
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nature itself. If a woman is of a really serious cast of
mind, her inner nature will suffice to guide her in
this matter. This has been expressed in the
following verse of the Qur’an:
Therefore the righteous women are devoutly
obedient, and guard in (the husband’s)
absence what God would have them guard.
13
The responsibilities of woman as regards man
described by the Qur’an and
sunnah
are in complete
accord with this feminine nature. If a woman’s
nature is alive and she wishes to lead her life as a
realist, she will not find any strangeness in the
teachings of Islam; rather she will accept them as if
they were the voice of her own heart. Here I would
present these teachings of Islam in brief under
different headings.
OBEDIENCE
The Qur’an says that “the righteous women are
devoutly obedient.”
14
The word
qanitat
(obedient
women) has been interpreted by ‘Abdullah ibn
‘Abbas as meaning women who are obedient to
their husbands.
15
That is, the righteous women in
