Wisdom, intelligence, intellect and aptitude are the qualities of human beings, which are never specified to any particular gender – man or woman. A woman can be as intelligent as a man or even more. It all depends on opportunities and practices. If women are not given the same opportunity as men to practice their wisdom, then it would be irrational to conclude that they are unwise, injudicious or ill-advised. Such false conception is the outcome of patriarchal societies where women are harassed, tortured, restricted, stressed and bound in the four walls of the house, where their wisdom and aptitude are made limited only for doing the dishes, washing clothes, cleaning the houses and some other minor tasks.
Wisdom and intellect are nourished through the practices and experiences and having an active part in social life and institutions. While in most of the societies in today’s world the institutions are highly dominated by men and women do not have the opportunity to participate in them and gain experience and knowledge.
Some of the so-called intellectuals in order to prove women inferior try to quote the sayings of great men in history; some are taking refuge in myths of different religions and some are using Islam to prove women weaker, inferior and unwise,. But it should be clarified that Islam does not allow any sort of discrimination of women. It was Islam that brought women out of the tyranny and discriminatory behavior of Arab society. It taught them the value of women and made them realize that they have their rights and roles in the society.
Islam, in fact, says that salvation can only be attained through piety, virtue, knowledge and good deeds; as mentioned in Holy Quran: “O men! Surely we have created you male and female, and made you in tribes and families so that you may know each other; surely the most honorable of you in front of Allah is the one who is most virtuous”.
Some of today’s social practices in the world are very inhumane and the intellectuals from philanthropic school of thought call them as jungle’s law and these practices can be summed up as jungle’s law as they are contrary to humanitarian and urban values, gracious and refined social norms and traditions. We are designated the title of supreme and sovereign creature and if we follow jungle’s law and start discriminating and suppressing others, do we deserve to be called the supreme creature of Almighty? Do we really justify our existence?