Gender Roles Within Marriage
Muhammad described the high status of mothers in both of the major hadith Collections (Bukhari and Muslim). One famous account is:
-
"A man asked the Prophet: 'Whom should I honor most?' The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother!'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your father'"
In Islam, the primary role played by women is to be mothers, and mothers are considered the most important part of the family. A well known Hadith of the prophet says: "I asked the Prophet who has the greatest right over a man, and he said, 'His mother'". While a woman is considered the most important member of the family, she is not the head of the family. Yet it is seen as the right of the mother and reward for bringing up the children.
Read more about this topic: Gender Roles In Islam
Famous quotes containing the words gender, roles and/or marriage:
“Most women of [the WW II] generation have but one image of good motherhood—the one their mothers embodied. . . . Anything done “for the sake of the children” justified, even ennobled the mother’s role. Motherhood was tantamount to martyrdom during that unique era when children were gods. Those who appeared to put their own needs first were castigated and shunned—the ultimate damnation for a gender trained to be wholly dependent on the acceptance and praise of others.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“A concern with parenting...must direct attention beyond behavior. This is because parenting is not simply a set of behaviors, but participation in an interpersonal, diffuse, affective relationship. Parenting is an eminently psychological role in a way that many other roles and activities are not.”
—Nancy Chodorow (20th century)
“The sum and substance of female education in America, as in England, is training women to consider marriage as the sole object in life, and to pretend that they do not think so.”
—Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)