غیر اسلامی مذاہب میں خواتین کے حقوق و کردار کے معیارات: تحقیقی جائزہ

Standards of Women’s Rights and Roles in Non-Islamic Religions: A Research-Based Study

Abstract

This article examines the status and rights of women in non-Islamic religions from a historical and doctrinal perspective. It argues that traditional interpretations within these faiths have systematically portrayed women as inferior, sinful, or obstacles to salvation, leading to their social and legal marginalization. In Judaism, the narrative of Eve in the Torah has been used to frame women as sources of temptation and impurity, resulting in restrictions on their testimony, divorce rights, and autonomy under traditional Halakha. Within Christianity, early Church Fathers such as Tertullian and Chrysostom labeled women as “the gateway of Satan” and a “necessary evil,” while Pauline epistles emphasized female subordination to men—a stance still reflected in the prohibition of women’s ordination in Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Hinduism, particularly through texts like the Manusmriti, prescribed a life of perpetual dependence for women—on father, husband, and son—while denying them rights to inheritance, divorce, remarriage, and full religious participation, with practices like sati epitomizing their devaluation. In contrast, the article positions Islam as having granted women foundational rights such as inheritance, legal testimony, and economic autonomy fourteen centuries ago. The conclusion underscores that dominant traditional interpretations within these non-Islamic religions have perpetuated negative frameworks around womanhood, deeply impacting their social standing and rights throughout history.