RE:Women vote
by Yazed Khan on Dec 06, 2007 04:16 PM Permalink
In this case a little bit silence is found in some areas in Islam. The only hadith relating to female political leadership is Shahih Bukhari 5:59:709, in which Muhammad (SAW pbuh)is recorded as saying that people with a female ruler will never be successful. (The al-Bukhari collection is generally regarded as authentic, though one Muslim feminist has questioned the reliability of the recorder of this particular hadith.) However, some classical Islamic scholars, such as al-Tabari, supported female leadership. In early Islamic history, women including Aisha, Ume Warqa, and Samra Binte Wahaib took part in political activities.Other historical Muslim female leaders include Razia Sultana, who ruled the Sultanate of Delhi from 1236 to 1239,and Shajarat ad-Durr, who ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1257. In the past several decades, many countries in which Muslims are a majority or a large minority, including Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Turkey, have been led by women. According to Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi, Imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston%u2019s Southeast Mosque, nothing in Islam specifically allows or disallows voting by women. Until recently most Muslim nations were non-democratic, but most today allow their citizens to have some level of voting and control over their government. The disparate times at which women%u2019s suffrage was granted in Muslim-majority countries is indicative of the varied traditions and values present within the Muslim world. Azerba
RE:RE:Women vote
by Yazed Khan on Dec 06, 2007 04:19 PM Permalink
Cont...Azerbaijan has had women's suffrage since 1918, but some Islamic states did not have women's suffrage until the last ten years. Today, aside from Brunei (where neither men nor women can vote)and Saudi Arabia (where only men can vote), all Muslim-majority nations allow women to vote. (Lebanon requires proof of education for women to vote.) It is to be noted that even where women's suffrage as a right is technically present, women may not as a practical matter be able to vote
