The rights of Muslim women in marriage relationship within the Kumasi Metropolitan Area

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Date
2011
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Abstract
The main purpose for the study was to find out the truth in the belief held by many non-Muslims that Muslims married women do not freely enjoy their basic marital rights, as their rights are believed to be dictated by their male counterparts. This research investigated whether the Muslim married woman is entitled to basic marital rights in Islam. If they have the basic marital rights, what do the Qur'an and the Sunna of the prophet say about these rights? Are the women aware of their basic marital rights prescribed by Islam? Are their husbands aware of these rights? Do the husbands allow their wives to freely enjoy these rights if they are aware of them? The sources of information for the research are the Qur'an, the Sunna of the prophet and other Islamic laws. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in three Muslim dominated areas in Kumasi namely Suame, Tafo and Asawasi to solicit the views of members of four Islamic religious groups on the topic. The religious groups were Tijaniyya Brotherhood, Ahlus Sunna Wal-Jama'a, Ghana Muslim Mission and Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission. It was realized that Islam has given Muslim married women some basic rights and it has provided enough safeguards to protect the rights. It was also found that Muslim women had knowledge of their marital rights. The challenge however, was due to cultural infiltration from various tribal groups, poverty and the gross abandonment of Islamic laws. The following recommendations have been made by the researcher: the Aimah(Imams) and Ulma (Mallams) must educate Muslims to differentiate between culture and religion, Muslim preachers must preach more on Muslim marital rights and more publications on Muslim women’s rights should be made available.
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A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Religious Studies Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology In partial fulfillment of requirements of the degree of Master of Philosophy
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