Generally it is believed that in Islam the women are mistreated, their status is lower than men and they do not enjoy equal rights. Such negative perceptions has been created by the ignorant and enemies of Islam, after having failed in the ideological front, however the cultural treatment meted to the women in some of the Muslim societies has provided the basis for such perception. Before the advent of Islam the status of women in earlier civilizations was very low to the extent that they were denied basic human dignity. A cursory look at that would highlight the respectable position granted to women by Islam. The women were degraded and were denied all rights under the Babylonian law. If a man murdered a woman, instead of him being punished, his wife was put to death. In the Greek Civilization, women were deprived of all rights and were looked down upon. In Greek mythology, an ‘imaginary woman’ called ‘Pandora’ is the root cause of misfortune of human beings. The Greeks
Nusaybah bint Ka’b, seeing the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) unprotected during the Battle of Uhud, ran to shield him with her sword alongside her husband and son. She received many wounds, and the Prophet (PBUH) himself said that wherever he turned, whether to the right or to the left, he saw her defending him. She was present at a number of battles and, at the age of 60, fought at al-Yamama, receiving 11 wounds and also losing her hand. When Khawla bint al-Azwar’s brother was taken captive by the Byzantines, she put on armour and charged into the Byzantine troops to rescue him. Taken captive at the Battle of Marj al Saffar, she fended off the Byzantines with a tentpole, killing seven. Muslim women were an important part of every battle — rallying their men or tending to the wounded, sometimes taking up arms or composing taunting poetry. Ghazala al-Haruriyya called out to the fleeing Umayyad general during a battle, “You are a lion against me but were made into an ostrich which sprea