page_title: Women in Islam
section_title: Gender roles
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Islam / Gender roles
caption_attribution_description: English: Folio from a Rawdat al-safa (Garden of felicity) by Mirkhwand (d. 1498); verso: Ali and Aisha at the Battle of the Camel; recto: text 1571-1572 Safavid period Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper H: 41.3 W: 27.6 cm Shiraz, Iran
context_page_description: The experiences of Muslim women vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree and gives them a common identity that may serve to bridge the wide cultural, social, and economic differences between them.
  Among the influences which have played an important role in defining the social, spiritual, and cosmological status of women in the course of Islamic history are Islam's sacred text, the Quran; the Ḥadīths, which are traditions relating to the deeds and aphorisms of Islam's Prophet Muḥammad; ijmā', which is a consensus, expressed or tacit, on a question of law; qiyās, the principle by which the laws of the Quran and the Sunnah or Prophetic custom are applied to situations not explicitly covered by these two sources of legislation; and fatwas, non-binding published opinions or decisions regarding religious doctrine or points of law.
context_section_description: Gender roles in Islam are simultaneously colored by two Quranic precepts: (i) spiritual equality between women and men; and (ii) the idea that women are meant to exemplify femininity, and men masculinity.
  Spiritual equality between women and men is detailed in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb (33:35):
  Verily, the Muslims: men and women, the believers: men and women, the Qanit: men and the women, the men and women who are truthful, the men and the women who are patient, the Khashi`: men and the women, the men and the women who give Sadaqat, the men and the women who fast, the men and the women who guard their chastity and the men and the women who remember Allah much with their hearts and tongues, Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward.
  Islam's basic view of women and men postulates a complementarity of functions: like everything else in the universe, humanity has been created in a pair (Sūrat al-Dhāriyāt, 51:49) – neither can be complete without the other. In Islamic cosmological thinking, the universe is perceived as an equilibrium built on harmonious polar relationships between the pairs that make up all things. Moreover, all outward phenomena are reflections of inward noumena and ultimately of God.
  The emphasis which Islam places upon the feminine/masculine polarity (and therefore complementarity) results in a separation of social functions. In general, a woman’s sphere of operation is the home in which she is the dominant figure – and a man's corresponding sphere is the outside world.However, this separation is not, in practice, as rigid as it appears. There are many examples – both in the early history of Islam and in the contemporary world – of Muslim women who have played prominent roles in public life, including being sultanas, queens, elected heads of state and wealthy businesswomen. Moreover, it is important to recognize that in Islam, home and family are firmly situated at the centre of life in this world and of society: a man's work cannot take precedence over the private realm.
  The Quran dedicates numerous verses to Muslim women, their role, duties and rights, in addition to Sura 4 with 176 verses named “An-Nisa” (“Women”).
caption: A fifteenth-century Persian miniature depicting the Battle of the Camel, a decisive encounter between the troops of the fourth caliph 'Alī, and an opposing army rallied by Muḥammad's wife, Āʿisha.[26][27] In the aftermath of Alī's victory, Āʿisha withdrew from politics. Traditionalists have used this episode to argue that women should not play an active political role, while modernists have held up Āʿisha's legacy in arguing for gender equity in the Islamic tradition.[28]
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