Islam and Human Rights — Page 189
Prevalent Attitudes Towards Human Rights Among Muslims 189 instead of being watchful guardians over women and ever mindful of their duty to their Lord, became the exploiters of the fairer but weaker sex. In the Islamic system woman, as an heir to her parents, husband and children and being entitled to a settlement as part of her marriage contract, could occupy a position of comparative economic security. She was often deprived of her rights of inheritance, the payment of her dower was neglected, and when paid it was in many cases appropriated by her guardian. So much did this become the norm in some sections of Muslim society that the dower began to be described by non-Muslim writers as the purchase price for the wife paid by the husband to her guardian. Educa tional standards deteriorated, again, more grievously among women than among men and, in consequence, among the poorer sections women often remained unaware of their legal rights and knew not how to secure and enforce them. In the matter of the dissolution of marriage also, the position of women was seriously weakened. The safeguards provided by the Quranic jurisprudence were ignored, the moral injunctions were repudiated in practice, and even the letter of the law was whittled down to suit the caprice and convenience of the husband. The