The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the top religious institution in Sunni Islam, Ahmed al-Tayyeb received on Tuesday, from the Minister of Islamic Affairs a Call and Guidance from Sheikh Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz Al Al-Sheikh, at the headquarters of Al-Azhar Sheikhdom, to discuss joint cooperation between the two sides.
The meeting dealt with women’s rights in Islam. Tayyeb stressed the necessity of reviving the fatwa “the right in toil and pursuit” from our Islamic heritage, to preserve the rights of working women who made an effort to develop the wealth of their husbands.
He pointed out that modern developments necessitated that woman enter the labor market and share the burdens of life with her husband. Tayyeb said that the Islamic heritage is rich in treatments for various issues.
“If we contemplate them, we will stand on the extent of the abundance and depth of this heritage,” and the keenness of Islamic Sharia to preserve women’s rights and ensure everything that would preserve their dignity.
During a telephone interview with the “Masaa DMC” (DMC evening) show on DMC satellite channel, Hadidi said that toil and pursuit of the woman: whether it was from her work or inheritance or an old financial estate before her marriage and then she gave her husband or opened an account for him in the bank. This money is estimated as an independent financial asset to the wife, away from the inheritance form the husband, meaning that the heirs are not entitled to share the wife in this money.
The Grand Sheikh stressed that marriage life is not built on rights and duties, but on friendliness, love and attitudes in which the husband supports his wife, and the wife is support for her husband, in order to build a good family capable of building and contributing to the advancement and progress of her society, and raising generations capable of giving.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwa, Osama al-Hadidi, explained that the “right in toil and pursuit” for women means the woman’s contribution to increasing the wealth of her family, whether it is with her salary or by building a home for her family or by owning a company or stores of her own.
“If the husband died and there is no proof of the woman’s right of toil and pursuit, it is then estimated by the wife’s estimation,” he added. Hadidi called for the necessity of reinstating this fatwa, and stressed the role of the House of Representatives in reinstating it.
