The Permissibility of Women’s Social Presence from an Islamic Viewpoint

This article tries to demonstrate that Islam recognizes women’s social presence and endorses their participation in political, economic, and cultural activities in society. The claim is supported by the Quranic reports of women’s social activities in the past nations and by a number of jurisprudential verses (āyāt al-aḥkām) pertaining to social matters. Further evidence for the claim consists in reliable historical reports, as well as hadiths, according to which women were active in the nascent Muslim community and the Prophet (s) expressed no disagreement towards their social activities. This article is written with a descriptive-analytic method, using reliable Shiite and Sunni sources.