Islam Protects the Rights of Widows

A widow an her children

A widow is a woman whose husband is deceased. 

Widows have existed throughout history and sometimes, irrespective of their social status; they have faced the same challenges. 

The major challenges encountered by widows have been:

1. Deprivation of inheritance
2. Forced marriages
3. Accusations of murder
4. Eviction from late husband’s property and
5. Idolatry widowhood rites

These forms of abuses have lead to many women been admitted into mental institutions because they now had to cope with the agony of losing their soul mates and at the same time; the humiliating and demoralizing effects of these barbaric practices.  

To give special recognition to the situation of widows of all ages and across regions and cultures, the United Nations General Assembly decided to observe International Widows’ Day on 23 June each year through its resolution A/RES/65/189 adopted on 21 December 2010. 

In a society where Islam is respected and implemented, widows are free from all of these practices and any other actions that would make life unpleasant and difficult for the widow. 

According to the United Nations, there are 285 million widows world wide with 115 million of them living in abject poverty.

Deprivation from Inheritance

It wasn’t until the beginning of the twentieth century that women (widows and girls) in the West were granted the right to inherit wealth from their deceased loved ones. Before then, whether or not widows got anything was totally dependent on luck. If some males in the family felt pity for them (widows) they gave them small shares otherwise they were left to themselves. 

The Talmud describes the financial situation of a wife as follows: "How can a woman have anything; whatever is hers belongs to her husband? What is his is his and what is hers is also his...... Her earnings and what she may find in the streets are also his. The household articles, even the crumbs of bread on the table, are his. Should she invite a guest to her house and feed him, she would be stealing from her husband..." [San. 71a, Git. 62a]

Under Canon and civil law a married woman in Christian Europe and America had lost her property rights until late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For example, women's rights under English law were compiled and published in 1632. These 'rights' included: "That which the husband hath is his own. That which the wife hath is the husband's.

As for Islam, ALLAH (SWT) says in the Glorious Qur’an, "...And for the wives is one fourth if you leave no child. But if you leave a child, then for them is an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you [may have] made or debt. And if a man or woman leaves neither ascendants nor descendants but has a brother or a sister, then for each one of them is a sixth. But if they are more than two, they share a third, after any bequest which was made or debt, as long as there is no detriment [caused]. [This is] an ordinance from Allah, and Allah is Knowing and Forbearing". Suratul Nisa (4:12). 

We see another great point here that Islam’s concept of inheritance leaves no one out and the right of widows to inherit wealth from their loved ones is well catered for.

Forced Marriages by Inheritance

There was also the practice of male members of a man’s family forcibly taking his widow as a wife when he died. This is because the society saw women as part of the property and not as a separate entity. Men took the widows of their brothers sometimes not out of any love for her but to show male dominance over her. These women were mostly treated as outsiders and as inferior beings in the houses of their new masters.  

Islam prohibited the act of inheriting women after the demise of their husbands as ALLAH (SWT) puts it in the Glorious Qur’an “O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the dowry you have given to them— Except where they have been guilty of open illicit sexual deeds (lustfulness); On the contrary live with them on a basis of kindness and justice. If you take a dislike to them it may be that you dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good”. Suratul Nisa (4:19). 

Muhammad (SAW) also spoke showing the disapproval of forced marriages in Islam. He said, "A woman without a husband (or divorced or a widow) must not be married until she is consulted, and a virgin must not be married until her permission is sought. They asked the Prophet (SAW) how a virgin's consent can be solicited. He (the Holy Prophet) said: “That she keeps silent”.

Accusations of Murder

Usually, to justify the eviction of widows from the houses of their late husbands, family members usually fabricated the greatest of accusations against the widow. These accusations were usually directly or indirectly related to murder. The widow was either accused of witch-craft or gold-digging. 

A great percentage of early Muslim women were widowed at some point in their lives with some of them being widowed more than once. They (Muslim widows) however never found it difficult getting a new husband neither were they ever accused of being responsible for the death of their late husbands. 

A typical example was Atikah bint Zayd who was widowed five times and still had men coming for her hand in marriage. 

Her situation is narrated thus: Atikah married Abdur Rahman bin Abu Bakr remained with him until he was killed by an arrow while out with the Prophet (SAW) on the day of Ta'if. Atikah later married Umar during his Khilafah. Their union ended with his death at the hands of an assassin. Some time passed, then, Az-Zubayr ibn Al-Awwam proposed to her and married her thereafter. Then Az-Zubayr was martyred, and she subsequently married Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, who was killed in Egypt. At this point, she decided that she would never marry anyone else after him for fear that he too would be martyred. She once said, "If I were to marry all the inhabitants of the earth, they would all be killed." 

She was given the affectionate name "Zawjah Ash-Shuhada" - the wife of the martyrs. 
Read the seerah of Atiqa bint Zayd here. In the Jewish legislation, a woman who has been widowed three times with all the three husbands dying of natural causes is considered 'fatal' and forbidden to marry again.

Eviction from Late Husband’s Properties

Usually in a bid to avoid giving anything of wealth to the widow and the orphans and also to gain more wealth, the widows and her orphans were evicted from the properties of their deceased bread-winner. Some widows resorted to prostitution to keep a roof over their heads and those of their orphaned children. 

Asides the fact that Islam has stated that orphans that orphans are automatic heirs to their parents, Islam also commands that women are not evicted from the houses of their husbands. 

ALLAH (SWT) says in the Glorious Qur’an, "And those who are taken in death among you and leave wives behind - for their wives is a bequest: maintenance for one year without turning [them] out..." Suratul Baqarah (2:240)

In another verse, Allah says, “…Do not turn them out of their [husbands'] houses, nor should they [themselves] leave [during that period] unless they are committing a clear immorality. And those are the limits [set by] Allah . And whoever transgresses the limits of Allah has certainly wronged himself…” Suratul Talaq (65:1)

Idolatry Widowhood Rites

Widows in societies stooped in superstition and idolatry probably have no equal in terms of the suffering they undergo from the day on which they are widowed. They are made to do things that most animals in the world would refuse but they have no choice since it is the constitution of their lands. Some of these idolatry widowhood rites include:

• Asking a widow to drink from the water that was used to bath the corpse of her late husband.
• Locking her up in the same room as the corpse of  her late husband for days.
• Shaving her head.
• Humiliating her by making her take oats in public declaring her innocence in the death of her beloved husband.

The lists of atrocities go on and on. Some women probably became mentally imbalanced after their subjection to these practices, ALLAH knows best. The point here is that Islam has never had any place for superstition, whatever Islam has asked and commanded mankind to believe are divine decrees from ALLAH to which HE has given significant reason in the Glorious Qur’an and through HIS Messenger; Muhammad (SAW). 

Islam is a faith that vehemently kicks against idolatry as ALLAH (SWT) said in the Glorious Qur’an Say, [O Muhammad], "Have you considered that which you invoke besides Allah? Show me what they have created of the earth; or did they have partnership in [creation of] the heavens? Bring me a scripture [revealed] before this or a [remaining] trace of knowledge, if you should be truthful. And who is more astray than he who invokes besides Allah those who will not respond to him until the Day of Resurrection, and they, of their invocation, are unaware”.  Suratul Ahkaf (46:4-5). 

Muhammad (SAW) also said, “Whoever went to a fortune-teller and asked him about some matter (i.e. of the unseen) and believed him, will have his prayer rejected for forty days.” 

The fortuneteller and the witch-doctor are under the same category in Islam. 

Women in any corner of an Islamic state were never allowed to suffer any form of oppression or injustice as Islam is a shield to the defenseless.