Superiority of man over women.

Question.

Why is man superior to woman?

Is there any mention of this from the Holy Quraan?

Answer.

Firstly it should be well understood that Allah Ta'aala is our only Creator and Commander and whatever He creates and commands is only threw His wisdom, therefore no one including human beings can question the Divine Wisdom of Allah Ta'ala. Allah Ta'aala is the one who has given mankind intelligence and it is a great gift from Allah Ta'aala, therefore we should use it and at the same time be thankful to Allah Ta'aala, one way of thanking Allah Ta'aala is to use it in a correct way i.e. to use it wherever we are supposed to, not such a way that it contradicts with the Shari'ah. Allah Ta'aala has given us a limit to use our intellect, so when it comes to the matter of Qur'aan and Hadith whether it makes sense to us or not then too we should accept it and do not refer to our intellect which is very limited. In many places in the Qur'aan Allah Ta'aala has mentioned the superiority of a few things over the other, for example Allah says in Surah Al Baqarah: 

تلك الرسل فضلنا بعضهم على بعض, منهم من كلم الله ورفع بعضهم درجات.....

Translation: Those Messengers! We preferred some of them to others; to some of them Allah Ta'aala spoke (directly); others He raised to degrees (of honor) …

In another place Allah Ta'aala mentions:

كنتم خير أمة أخرجت للناس

Translation: You [true believers in Islamic monotheism, and real followers of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and his Sunnah] are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind;

Beside these there are other places in the Qur'aan where Allah Ta'aala has made mention of the superiority of one thing over the other, so just as we are not allowed to interfere in regard to the superiority of some Nabi and nation, etc over the other in the same way we have to accept the superiority of men over women as mentioned in the Holy Qur'aan and we should not use our intellect as a criteria.

Thus Allah Ta'aala has made mention in the Qur'aan:

وللرجال عليهن درجة, والله عزيز حكيم.

Translation: But men have a degree (of responsibility) over them. And Allah Ta'aala is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

Under the interpretation of this aayah Allaamah Ibn Katheer has mentioned that men are superior to women in virtues, ranks, obedience (of Allah Ta'aala), spending (in the path of Allah Ta'aala and family, etc), in responsibility and he also stated that the virtue (fadheelat) is in regard to this world and in the hereafter as well.

This is sufficient to show us the fact that men are superior to women, but then too Allah Ta'aala is the creator of mankind and he knows our way of thinking therefore He further elaborated on this topic in another Aayah of the Holy Qur'aan and said:

الرجال قوامون على النساء بما فضل الله بعضهم على بعض و بما أتنفقوا من أموالهم......

Translation: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah Ta'aala has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means.

In this Aayah Allah Ta'aala mentioned the superiority of men over women and also mentioned two main reasons thereof. The first reason is that Allah Ta'aala himself gives superiority of things over the other and no one can come in between and raise an objection against Allah Ta'aala.

The second reason is that Allah Ta'aala has given men superiority over women due to the fact that Allah Ta'aala has given men more obligations than women and women were created from man. The first human being was Adam (Alaihissalaam) and from him Allah Ta'aala created Hawwa (Alaihassalaam).Allaamah Ibn Katheer mentioned in his book that:

يقول تعالى (الرجال قوّامون على النساء ) أى الرجل قيم على المرأة, أى هو رئيسها و كبيرها و الحاكم عليها و مؤدبها إذا أعوجت(بما فضل الله بعضهم على بعض)أى لأن الرجال أفضل من النساء , و الرجل خير من المرأة و لهذا كانت النبوة مختصة بالرجال , وكذلك الملك الأعظم لقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم (لن يفلح قوم ولوا أمرهم إمرأة) رواه البخارى. وكذا منصب القضاء وغير ذلك.(وبما أنفقوا من أموالهم ) أى من المهور والنفقات و الكلف التى أوجبها الله عليهم لهن فى كتابه وسنة نبيه صلى الله عليه و سلم و فالرجل أفضل من المرأة فى نفسه , وله الفضل عليها والإفضال

Translation: Allah Ta'aala says (men are the protectors and maintainers of women) i.e. man is the custodian of woman; he is her leader, chieftain, governor, and her discipliner when she acts dishonestly and corruptly. (because Allah Ta'aala has made one of them to excel the other) i.e. since men are better and superior than women, that is why prophethood is allocated to men only, and in the same way the leadership and kingship is apportioned to men only as it is mentioned by Nabi (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) that: "such a nation will never be successful which entrusts its affairs to a woman” (Bukhari). In the same way when it comes to administrative posts etc. (and because they spend (to support them) from their means).i.e. man gives them dowry (mahr), spending, and the burden which Allah Ta'aala has made compulsory upon men for them in His book (Qur'aan) and in the Hadith of his beloved Rasul (sallallahu alaihi wasallam). So generally man is better than woman and he has priority over her.

 

Whatever was mentioned above is the general case. However, although men are  superior to women but there will be some women who will be given more reward etc in the Aakhirah due to their righteousness which  at times causes them to supercede the deeds of men, therefore we should make an effort to make more righteous deeds and do not get involved in futile things.

AND ALLAH TA'AALA KNOWS BEST