"AND WOMEN HAVE RIGHTS SIMILAR TO WHAT THEY OWE AS RECOGNIZED, THOUGH FOR MEN THERE IS A STEP ABOVE THEM. AND ALLAH IS MIGHTY, WISE." (SURAH AL-BAQARAH: 228)

Part 3

Ion the same subject, in another verse the Holy Quran says:

"AND WHOSOEVER, MALE OR FEMALE, DOES A RIGHTEOUS DEED, WHILE HE (OR SHE) IS A BELIEVER, WE SHALL ASSUREDLY GET HIM (OR HER) TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE." (SURAH AN-NAHL: 97)

Another point to consider is that in this verse Allah Ta'alah says, "and women have rights similar to what they owe," in which the rights of women have been mentioned before the rights of men. In the interpretation of this verse Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE has said that the reason for mentioning rights of women first may be that because of their strength, power and status men enforce their rights on women any way, it is the women who are generally unable to get their rights form men forcefully. The other suggestion may be that men should take the lead in fulfilling women's rights.

The word "مثل" (similar to), which has been used here to explain the equality of rights of both men and women, means that fulfilling the rights of both men and women is equally obligatory (Wajib) and any dereliction or neglect in fulfilling rights of both is equally reprehensible and punishable.

From Ma'ariful Quran, by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE