Summary of the Issue

Yaounde, Cameroon. 2009. Students at the Al-Haraiman French-Arabic School talk during a class break. Photo Credit: Rebecca Blackwell/AP Images.

Even though Islam emphasizes the right and importance of education unequivocally, access to education for Muslim women has been deeply severed. The Prophet stated: “Whosoever follows a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah will make easy for him/her a path to Paradise.” ¹ Similarly, the Quran asks, “Are those who know and who do not know equal?”² Great emphasis is placed on education and no distinction is made between men and women.

Muslim women have played an important and historic role as scholars and leaders in education. For instance, the princess Fatima Al-Fihri established the first degree-granting university in the world, University of Al Karaouine, in Morocco in 859 CE. And during the Ayyubid dynasty, the regent queen Dafiya Khatun built numerous khanqas (Sufi convents) and madrasas (theological colleges) in Damascus and Aleppo.³

However, Muslim women face restrictions in accessing education that differ greatly from one region to another. For example, in Afghanistan there is a denial of adequate education for young girls and women. Repression of women is still prevalent in rural areas, where girls are forced into early marriage and denied basic education. Numerous schools for girls have been burned down and some girls have even been poisoned to death for daring to go to school. Unfortunately, 80 percent of Afghan women are illiterate and only 30 percent of girls have access to education.⁴ This is a sharp contrast to some universities in the United Arab Emirates that have a female population approaching 80 percent. Other factors, such as poverty and shortage of nearby schools, also impact girls’ education, particularly in remote areas.⁵

Yet, there are similar underlying challenges that Muslim women face in trying to receive education. One such example is the traditional patriarchal interpretation of qiwamah, the notion that men are guardians of Muslim women. Although the Quran stipulates that both men and women are protectors of one another, the concept of qiwamah has been used to justify various restrictions on women that in turn hinder Muslim women’s education. For instance, limiting women’s right to free movement is a great impediment to free and equal access to education. In various regions Muslim girls are also forced to marry at a very early age and thus kept at home instead of in the classroom. They are taught that their only role is that of a wife and of a mother and are discouraged from seeking educational and professional opportunities.

[1] Sahih Muslim, Book 35 Number 6518
[2] Surah Zumar, Ayat 9
[3] Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach, "Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, index," Taylor and Francis, New York: 2006.
[4] Afghanistan Online: The Plight of the Afghan Woman
[5] Strengthening Education in the Muslim World