The attitude of the Qur’an and the early Muslims bear witness to the fact that woman is, at least, as vital to life as man himself, and that she is not inferior to him nor is she one of the lower species. It is striking that Omar (peace be upon him), beloved companion of Messenger and second khalife (president) that led Muslims after Messenger Mohammed died, said " Before Islam we did not give any value to women but when Islam mentioned about them in Quran and Sunnah (Messenger Mohammed’s life, sayings, applications and instructions), we started thinking about women’s rights."

Another confess came from Abdullah, son of Omar(peace be upon him); he said " After accepting Islam we had been afraid to complain about women even a little bit because we would guess a Quranic verse scolding us because of our words could be revealed to Messenger by God."

The fact that woman belongs to the female sex has no bearing on her human status or independent personality, and it is no basis for justification of prejudice against her or injustice to her person.

The first era of Islamic history is the most accurate example for women’s active social life. They did not only attend to Friday prayer with men, but also joined men for salat (daily prayer) in the mosque five times a day. In the mosque, women used to ask any questions and get answers like any other men. Moreover, they had another session of meeting with the Messenger Mohammed once a week and they could ask their questions regarding women without being uncomfortable in the presence of other men. Eventually, they improved their knowledge in the subjects of religious sciences, law, medicine and they mastered in their education with the teachings of the Messenger. For instance, one of them even corrected Omar (during his directory talk for Muslims) with the help of the verses and commands in Quran.

Maybe the most astonishing example is that Aisha, the wife of Messenger Mohammed, was the top professor in Islamic laws and studies and taught many great scholars and had a lot of students. She had over 2000 hadith (sayings of Messenger) with exact words in her memory. Moreover, said Messenger Mohammed: “You can learn half of your religion form Aisha.” To many companions of Messenger, Aisha was the only guide who can solve all the problems and answer all the questions about Islam. She also led an army by herself once.

While Omar was administering the Muslim State, he gave women a lot of opportunities to work for government. One of these women, Sifa was the director (municipal office) that controls markets and shopping malls in the aspects of price, quality and fair marketing. Women also sometimes fought in the battles, and worked as nurses and as other service workers behind the front line.

We can also remember the fact that Messenger Mohammed’s generation stems from his only one daughter, Fatima (peace be upon her) and this generation enlightened millions of people with their wisdom and faith.

With thousands of examples, we can conclude that Islam gives women every opportunity to improve her knowledge, self-esteem and the quality of life, get education (in fact, it is mandatory for women to get education in Islam), have a career for their and society’s benefit. However, in states where people chose Islam, later on some cultural norms and traditions took back some of women’s right and limited them. The worst, there have been many profiteers who reflected this situation as if it was the laws of Islam and they misstated saying that Islam prisons women.

1400 years ago, before Islam was given to people by God, anywhere in the world including east and western cultures women had no value at all in the society due to immature level of civilization and low culture. We all know the fact that even in 15-16th century in some parts of Europe, women were being accused of spell and magic, that is being a witch or evil. However, in Islam woman is in the middle of the life, bright, joyful and noble. As far as woman’s relation with men, her role in the family life and her rights are concerned, what Islam has established for woman is that which suits her nature, gives her full security and protects her against disgraceful circumstances and uncertain channels of life. I’ll deal with these issues on the next and for now, the last article about women.