Daughters' Day and Islam
By S. Arshad, New Age Islam
28 September 2020
The fourth Sunday of September is
celebrated worldwide as the Daughters' Day ever year. Despite being plagued
with many ills, the modern world society can be proud for the fact that it has
learnt to love, respect and value the girl child. Infanticide and female
feticide have been made illegal worldwide. Governments in India and various
countries of the world take special steps to educate them and provide them
equal opportunity to grow and prosper and be an equal partner in the
development of society.
But it is only a recent phenomenon. The
girl child had for centuries been considered a burden on the parents and on the
society. Having a girl child meant a financial burden on the family as they
were not considered productive. They were considered Paraya Dhan (alien property). So it was useless to spend money on
their education and upbringing. Moreover, if they remained alive, they would
claim share in inheritance. In Arab countries also, having a girl child or daughter
was a cause of social disgrace. Therefore, they would bury their innocent
daughters alive. The practice of infanticide was not rampant in Arab alone. In
Greece, China and Rome too girl children were killed either by drowning or
starving or just leaving them abandoned. The reason was inheritance and
poverty.
However, the practice of infanticide or
burying the girl children was stopped after the advent of Islam in Arab. The
Quran strictly prohibited children for fear of poverty or for any other reason
in verses Al Ana'am (140), Bani Israel (31) and Al Takweer (8-9).
The Prophet of Islam pbuh presented an
example by treating his daughter Fathima (r.a.) with love and affection. He
also advised Muslims to treat their daughters and sons equally. Once a man came
to the Prophet Pbuh with his minor son and daughter and sat in his company. He
put the son on his lap while made his daughter sit on the floor in front of
him. The holy Prophet Pbuh asked him to take the daughter also in his lap. The
Prophet Pbuh did not approve of discriminatory treatment to daughters.
Islam not only provides for equal treatment
of daughters with sons, it also provides for her the right to inhertance so
that after marriage she does not consider herself stranger in the family and
feel left out. This also gives her social and economic protection. In case of
widowhood and divorce, she can find a shelter. The Quran mentions her right to
inheritance in the following verse:
"Allah decrees a will for your
children, the male gets twice the share of the female if heirs are women, more
than two, they receive two thirds of the estate. If only one daughter is left,
she gets one half."(Al Nisa: 11)
It cannot be denied that Islam took the
first step towards securing the life and human rights of daughters and after
that the world gradually realised the need to undo the age old injustices to
the girl child and also realised their value in the develolment of the society.
It is heartening to see the world celebrating daughters.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/daughters-day-islam/d/122972
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