QUESTION:

Is this not discrimination between man and woman that women are half of man in witness? That man is given a larger share in inheritance (mīrāth) and woman gets less.

ANSWER:

Your question indicates there is need to make peace between you and the Lord Allah, the most Wise and all-Knowing. You must be knowing that while you have the right to interpret a certain injunction and verse in the Qur’ān, you simply cannot object to Allah’s commands that are explicit and bear only one clear meaning. What you call discrimination between man and woman in the matter of witness and mīrāth, is the command of Allah:

•  and get two witnesses out of your own men: and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as you choose for witness, so that if one of them (women) errs, the other can remind her… (al-Qur’ān chapter 2: verse 282).

• Allah directs you as regard your children’s (inheritance): to the male a portion equal to that of two females… (al-Qur’ān, chapter 4: verse 11)

A principle laid down in the Qur’ān is that when Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him) decide something, a Muslim is to accept that faithfully and happily. He is not to make reasons with Allah. That however, does not at all mean that the command under question carries no rationale.

• About witness, read the wording of the verse carefully: “if one (of the women) errs (meaning forgets and makes mistake), the other can remind her”. Do you really get the impression here that the verse means that one man is equal to two women? Look at it carefully and you would feel Allah has made special favour to women folk. That is, when they happen to perform the duty of witnessing (not a pleasant task, you will agree) in a court of law, they are allowed to take a woman companion with them, to assist and remind. This privilege is not granted to man. You can file a petition before Allah that why men are deprived of this facility of assistance!

• Your second objection relates to the women’s share in mīrāth. Unfortunately you are not looking at the total Scheme, and hence the half share appears to you a discrimination. Now, do you see that in the Islāmic Family System the man pays mah‘r to his wife and bears the household expenditure of all the dependents? If wife happens to be rich (remember she has the right to own property), she is still absolved of any financial responsibility, including her own upkeep. If she contributes in any way, that is her special favour to the husband, and no legal obligation at all. With the above explanation, do you still find it discriminative that a lady inherits (from multiple sources), half that of the man?