Muhammad the Liberator of Women — Page 7
M U H A M M A D S A W — T H E L I B E R A T O R O F W O M E N 7 maintenance of a family usually rests with men, and women are only responsible for themselves, daughters would be entitled to half the share of sons. Similarly, like fathers, mothers would also inherit a portion of their sons’ wealth. Here the amount of her inheritance was dependent on the mother’s circumstances and the nature of her responsibilities, at times she will have the same share as the father, whereas at other times she will be entitled to a lesser share. Again, women will be the heirs to the wealth of their husbands after their demise, regardless of whether they had children or not, so that they would not become dependent on others. Marriage is undoubtedly a holy and sacred vow, and to terminate it is extremely reprehensible as a man and woman had cultivated a relationship of close intimacy. Yet if it is proven that the natures of a husband and wife have taken a completely different course or if religious, physical, economic, social or psychological differences arise between them, yet they are forced to honour this vow, they ruin their lives and kill off the purpose of their existence. Thus, when such differences are born, and a man and wife agree that they no longer can live together they can break this vow by mutual consent. If a man seeks a divorce from his wife but she wants to remain with him and the couple fail to reconcile their differences, their affairs ought to be decided by a committee of two members comprised of a representative of each party. If the committee decides that the couple should continue to live together then they, according to the decision, ought to attempt to settle their differences. However, if even after this the relationship is irretrievable the husband can divorce his wife, but will retain no rights over anything he gave to her and in