Muslim Women in India A Minority within a Minority
For centuries the Muslim Empire ruled and conquered a large portion of the ‘Eurasia’ area. ... The Delhi Sultanates, who were Muslim rulers of Turkish decent whom spoke Persian, made their appearance in India from 1200 till 1398. Eventually the Mongols, who had no mercy on anybody, came in rule in India. ... They ruled in India for centuries and with them they brought much advancement to the Indian society. ... Eventually the British came and conquered India and then in 1947 India finally gained their independence after years of struggle. ... India split to accommodate the civilians so that they would be able to live in a surrounding where everyone is of the same religion. India was meant to be for the Hindus and Sikhs while Pakistan strictly for the Muslims. ... India felt that this land is historically India and should remain this way. ... This is the reasoning behind why the Muslim population in India is hated upon so much. The Muslims are a minority in India yet that is not the worse of it. Women in South Asia have always been seen as a weaker race in comparison to men. This unfortunately makes the Muslim women a minority within a minority. There are approximately 48 million Muslim Women in India out of the 110 million Muslims. Like other communities with women, Muslim Women are differentiated across gender, class and community. Muslim women’s location in modern India also derives from their status as a minority which colors their life experience and self perception in many distinct ways and in this respect they differ from women belonging to other communities. One may have heard at some time or the other that Islam teaches that women are "inferior" and "unequal" to men. Women are described as weak, inferior, inherently evil and have deficient intellectual capabilities and are spiritually lacking. Furthermore, these evaluations have been used to claim that women are unsuitable for performing certain tasks, or for functioning in certain ways in society. Thus at times women find themselves banned from mosques and excluded from other Muslim institutions. The "intermingling of the sexes" is frowned upon on the basis that women create mischief. The Muslim identity of a woman is restricted and limited to her dress code. ... Since it is the responsibility of males to provide for females, women are liberated from all social, political and economic obligations. ... Nevertheless, they stress that man and womans roles are complementary and the most important role the women plays is in the family unit.