Cairo: As part of efforts to entrench the values of justice and fairness guaranteed by Islamic law, and in conjunction with the conference 'Investing Religious and Media Discourse and Its Impact on Protecting and Promoting Women's Rights in OIC Countries,' His Eminence Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, delivered a comprehensive address identifying contemporary challenges facing the Muslim family and outlining a roadmap to correct intellectual and social attitudes toward women's rights.
According to State Information Service Egypt, His Eminence warned against the dangers of the current phase, marked by imported theories aiming to undermine the natural structure of the family. This includes criticism of the 'rebellion against the family' and calls to liberate women from motherhood, portraying it as 'reproductive slavery.' He warned against feminist movements that seek to redefine the family, replace the terms 'husband' and 'wife' with 'partner,' and legitimize family patterns that contradict human nature. He also alerted to the risks of rapidly advancing technologies, such as artificial wombs, which aim to dispense entirely with men and dismantle natural human bonds.
Al-Tayyeb affirmed that Islam was the first and only voice to do justice to women at a time when ancient civilizations (Greek, Roman, and Indian) stripped them of dignity. He established the principle that 'women are the counterparts of men,' and affirmed the unity of human origin in the Qur'anic verse: 'He created you from a single soul.' Islam preceded the world by fourteen centuries in granting women the rights to inheritance, education, choice of spouse, independent financial responsibility, and retaining their family name. The 'preference for women' in certain prophetic traditions is not mere consolation, but recognition of qualities and merits in which women excel.
The Grand Imam highlighted the gap between Islamic texts and lived reality, attributing it to the dominance of customs, traditions, and inherited norms over Qur'anic and Prophetic guidance. He noted the emergence of a 'popular culture' that confiscated women's rights, portraying injustice and marginalization as inherent to Muslim women, leading to confusion and social disorientation.
Al-Tayyeb addressed the excessive inflation of dowries, considering it an obstacle to chastity and moral integrity. He emphasized that the dowry in Islam is a symbol of affection, not a price or a display of extravagance. He cited the Prophet's (PBUH) practice of facilitating dowries (a ring of iron, or verses from the Qur'an) and recalled the stance of Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, who retracted his opinion when corrected by a woman citing a Qur'anic verse-affirming that the dowry is the wife's exclusive right and must not be infringed.
The Grand Imam concluded by announcing decisive resolutions by Al-Azhar's Council of Senior Scholars, forming a Sharia-based constitution for addressing women's issues. This includes equality in rights and duties based on competence, adherence to Sharia-prescribed inheritance shares, prohibition of unjust guardianship obstruction, women's right to all professions, travel permissibility without a mahram when safe, qiwamah as a responsibility of care, absolute prohibition of domestic violence, criminalizing arbitrary divorce, and obligation to compensate a wife who contributed to growing her husband's wealth.