the oppression that they were subjected to had reached its limit. Before Islam, women were forced to face a number of heart-wrenching hardships. Let us hear more about this.

Women in pre-Islamic times

Women were not given their just rights before Islam. The world did not give them their due honour and importance. Men merely viewed women as an ‘object’ to satisfy their carnal desires. Women were forced to serve men to such an extent that if a woman was to carry out any labour and hard work, she would still have to give her earnings to men. But the oppressive men of the time still did not give any importance to women. In fact, they would beat them like animals, and even cut off their ears, noses and other limbs over the smallest of issues, and in some cases, they were even killed.

After the death of the father, just as his belongings and land were passed down to the sons, they would also become the owners of the deceased father’s wives, forcefully making them into slaves.

Women would receive no share at all in the inheritance of their mother, father, brother, sister or husband, and neither did they have ownership over anything. It was the tradition of some oppressive Arab tribes to take widowed women and lock them in dark, small huts for up to a year. The woman could not leave the hut, nor bathe herself; she was not even allowed to change her clothing. She would have to eat, drink and tend to all of her needs whilst staying inside a tiny hut.

Many women died in this way due to grief upon their torturous situation. The ones who somehow survived this ordeal, however, were not allowed to simply walk free. After staying inside a tiny, dark hut for an entire year, camel dung was placed into their lap and they were forced to rub their bodies against animals. In these dirty clothes, they were forcefully lead around the city and made to walk while throwing