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Muslim Women in Workforce/Politics
"And [as for] the believers, both men and women - they are friends and protectors of one another: they [all] enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong." (Quran 9:71). In this verse it states that both men and women are encouraged to take part in their society and actively participate in in any work that needs to be done. Political issues are a large part of the government today and there is many Islamic historic events involving women ever since the beginning of Islamic history. The process of electing a leader in Islamic states is established in the process of Bai’ah which is a symbolic contract between the people and leader stating that the leader will obey all Islamic laws in return for their loyalty. Without the process of Bai’ah there is no leader that can act as the head of state,and the Quran never restricted women from having a political positions in Islam.
War
Wars were a recurring factor in the time of the Prophet because of the newfound religion that was starting to spread and many people were fighting in the war, this did not mean that the men were the only people fighting for their cause there were both men and women present in these wars. The first female martyr in Islam was a woman named Sumayah who refused to give up her religion and was killed as a result of her defiance. Another woman named Nusaybah fought in the war with her family in order to protect the Prophet and she became the first woman to fight for Islam additionally she was present for multiple battles throughout the Prophet’s time. Aisha was a military leader at one point in her life and led an entire army against Ali who was the current Fourth Caliph and this was a little while after the Prophet had passed away.
There is a lot of war still going on in the world today and there are still Muslim women who still take part in them to protect their country. Maryam al-Mansouri is a Muslim female fighting pilot that became well-known for flying her F-16 to lead the UAE air strikes against ISIS last September and came out successfully completing their mission in the attack as well as changing the perspective of Muslim women on a wide scale. There are female Muslim Peshmerga fighters are proud people who defend their community from ISIS extremists to make sure they can live in a safe environment in the future, one specific Peshmerga fighter named Oumaya Naji al-Jabara a mother of four was honored as a “sheikha” which is a title given to a tribal leaders after losing her life while fighting.
Maryam al-Mansouri Oumaya Naji al-Jabara
Education/Scholars
There were many Muslim women who were educated in the time of the Prophet for example, his wife Aisha was defined as the most knowledgeable muslim in history as she had spent time with the Prophet at a very young age and was exposed to the many Hadiths as that is what she is most known for. After the Prophet’s death many of the people came to her as she became one of the main source in public affairs. Aisha taught her students a lot when she became engaged in religious instructions and pursuits and became extremely invested in the spread of hadiths which resulted in her students becoming well-known scholars of hadiths at the time.
Another educated Muslim near the time of the Prophet was Fatima al-Fihri, Fatima founded the oldest degree granting university in the world called the University of Qarawiyyin. Fatima and her sister Mariam had inherited a large amount of money after the death of their family so they decided to use the money for the betterment of the community and built a mosque called Al-Andalus mosque and the university because they were educated enough to start a university.
University of Qarawiyyin
Politics
The role of women in history continues into the story of Belquees with the Queen of Sheba, The Queen ruled her country with justice and equality by discussing their certain issues with the people in order to keep their trust strong amongst her country at peace. The Queen was represented as a democratic ruler who consulted her people without taking any action and make any decisions which caused her to rise in power. Solomon wanted to invite the Queen to his country but he thought that because he did not have as much power as the Queen she would doubt the alliance so Allah gave Solomon an immense amount of power that the Queen witness she accepted his invitation and became a muslim, still maintaining the title Queen of Sheba in the aftermath of the even.
Benazir Bhutto was the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim Country serving two non-consecutive terms in 1988-1990 and 1993-1996. Before her years in office she had been exiled from Pakistan in 1984 and decided to go to London and ended up founding an underground organization to rebel against the military dictatorship but got arrested after her brother’s death in 1985 in Pakistan for participating in anti-government rallies. In 1989 she resumed her anti-government rallies and demanded the current Prime Minister (Zia Ul Haq) to resign then became co-chairwoman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). In the elections in 1988 Benazir was elected as the Prime Minister and became one of the youngest chief executives in the world at age 35 as well as the first female Prime Minister in an Islamic Country. During her second term in service in 1993 Benazir brought electricity to the countryside, built schools all over the country, invested much of her time in health, hunger, and housing in order to help Pakistan advance. After being exiled from Pakistan for several years Benazir returned to her homeland with her family in 2007 and received major death threats and hostility of the government and almost died in an assassination attempt only hours after her return but sadly in 2008 a week before the elections Benazir was bound to win she was killed in a bombing incident and died before reaching the hospital.
Queen of Sheba Benazir Bhutto
Workforce
Noor Inayat Khan was one of the World War II heroines that nobody know about, she was a Muslim woman who worked as a British spy in Paris while the Nazis were occupied there. Inayat Khan grew up in Paris but had to flee when the Nazis invaded Paris and left for the United Kingdom. Inayat Khan had decided that she would risk her life and join the war then went to the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and was trained as a wireless operator. Inayat Khan was positioned in Paris shortly after he training as she was recruited into the Special Operations Executive but during her time in Paris she was turned into the Nazi officers by someone for a reward and was executed in a concentration camp after being violently arrested because she would not back down in September 1944.
~A
Image Sources
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/government/uae-s-female-fighter-pilot-leads-airstrikes-against-isil-1.235550
http://www.pukmedia.com/en/EN_Direje.aspx?Jimare=21659
https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/07/17/fatima-al-fihri-muslim-lady-behind-worlds-first-university/
http://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/legendary-queen-sheba-and-her-iconic-visit-king-solomon-002547
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/35/8e/b8358e2962bec1aca72c3b64c8fc0817.jpg
http://www.noormemorial.org/img/Noorstamp.jpg