TEHRAN – Islam, as the women's rights reviving religion, addressed the issue of women's rights thirteen centuries ago and has taken great steps in the direction of her human rights.

Before Islam and during the period of the Age of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah) [It is an Islamic concept referring to the period of time and state of affairs in Arabia before the advent of Islam in 610 CE], the woman was treated as a wretched element of the society and thrown in the darkness of ignorance. She was hopeless and cannot hope for her evolution. Women were caught in the most disgraceful misfortunes and suffered the most difficult calamities.

Considering the fact that before the advent of Islam the pagan Arabs used to bury their female children alive, make women dance naked in the vicinity of the Ka'ba during their annual fairs, and treat women as mere chattels and objects of sexual pleasure possessing no rights or position whatsoever, these teachings of the Noble Qur'an were revolutionary.

With the advent of Islam, the human dignity of women was restored, and the issues of women as half of the society population were paid attention. Islam forbade burying female children alive and included respect for women among its teachings.

Regarding the Islamic view of women, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in one of his speeches said, “Islam regards women as dignified humans. Men and women share the same characteristic of being human. A human is a human before being a man or a woman. People are equal as far as human nature is concerned: this is the Islamic view. Allah, the Exalted, has bestowed certain physical traits on men and women. Both men and women play a role in creation, in the growth and transcendence of humanity, and in the course of history, but the role of women is more important than that of men.” (May 11, 2013)

Islam, as the revivalist of women's rights, addressed the issue of women's rights thirteen centuries ago and has taken great steps in the direction of her human rights.

Islam raised awareness and protested against this cruel attitude and taught that the whole life revolves around both man and woman. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) provided guidance and teachings regarding the most ignored gender [the woman] as no champion of woman’s rights can promote this cause with such zeal and zest. The woman is respectable whether she is in Western or Islamic civilization.

“The Islamic view of women brings about dignity, honor, growth, and an independent identity for women: this is our assertion, and we can prove it with extremely compelling evidence. In an Islamic environment, a woman achieves scholarly growth; she achieves personal growth; she achieves ethical growth; she achieves political growth; she becomes a pioneer of the most essential social issues: yet, she remains a woman. Being a woman is an advantage for any human: a source of pride. Isolating women from much-needed feminine environments and characteristics will not bring about a feeling of honor for most women,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. (Jul 11, 2012)

Unlike other religions, which regarded women as being possessed of inherent sin and wickedness and men as being possessed of inherent virtue and nobility, Islam regards men and women as being of the same essence created from a single soul.

The Prophet of Islam said, "Women are the twin halves of men." The Qur'an emphasizes the essential unity of men and women in a most beautiful simile: They (your wives) are your garment and you are a garment for them. (Quran 2:187)

“In the Islamic discourse, respect towards women and the characteristics, dignity and delicacy of women should be highlighted. By delicacy, I do not only mean physical delicacy. As well as physical delicacy, I mean the delicacy of women's psychological and intellectual structure and also the delicacy of their responsibilities. It is only the delicate and gentle fingers of the mother which can separate the extremely thin nerve fibers of a child's nervous system from one another so that he will not have any emotional complexes or problems. Nobody else can do this. That is to say, nobody else except for a woman can do this. This is a feminine task. A number of tasks require such delicacy that one wonders how the divine will has bestowed such a great capability and such delicacy on women,” the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said. (May 11, 2013)