I am not exactly certain of what you mean by women being kept in seclusion. If you are suggesting that women are kept at home all the time, this is hardly true anywhere in the Muslim world. They certainly move within women's circles, visiting their friends and relatives and receiving visitors.

As for complete segregation, leaving women to have their own gatherings away from those of men, much of this is social tradition. What is forbidden in Islam is for one man to be alone in an enclosed area with one women to whom he may be legally married. That includes his first cousins. In order to remove this prohibition, they would be joined by at least another woman, who may preferably be one of his relatives to whom he may not be married, such as his mother or sister. As for the presence of many men and women in a social gathering or in a lecture hall or a meeting hall, this is permissible in Islam, provided that women should wear proper Islamic dress which covers their heads and all their bodies with the exception of their faces and the lower part of their hands. What Islam does not like and does not approve of is the sort of intimate mixing which happens in other societies, where married men and women interact in complete disregard of Islamic standards of propriety.

Moreover, in a congregational prayer, men and women do not stand in the same rows. Men's rows are in the front and women's in the back. This is no indication of any superiority, since all of them are offering the same prayer as they are all required to offer it. It is simply a matter of organization which takes human nature into consideration.

My reader's observations are made particularly in connection with an answer which I have given to a reader who asked me about education in mixed schools, or what is generally called coeducation. I have given an answer which made it clear that if older school girls and women in universities observe the Islamic requirements of dress and conduct then they may go to such educational institutions.

Perhaps I should first of all make my position clear on coeducation. In an Islamic society, all schools would be single-sex. It is also far more preferable to have single-sex universities which offer a program of study for women which is geared to their needs and equip them better for the jobs they will have and the role they play in society. But this is not available nowadays in the overwhelming majority of Muslim countries.

So, by necessity, Muslim girls have to go to what may be available to them of schools and universities. In this case we have to tell them that they must observe Islamic values of propriety and decorum. We also tell young men who go to these institutions that they also must observe the same values as they apply to them. They must ‘lower their gaze’ as God orders them in the Qur'an.

It is in keeping with those values that the Prophet, peace be upon him, told women to be the ones who walk closer to the wall when they go about their business. That is more likely to ensure their security and enhance their image of being respectable, chaste women. There is nothing wrong with a woman walking along the street, except that she is required to be decent in her appearance and behavior. The standards of decency are those of Islam, not of any other philosophy or ideology.

It is often the case that we give too much emphasis to some shades of the meaning of the words used by the Prophet, peace be upon him, in Hadith, in order to support our preconceptions of what Islamic life is like. We should guard against coming up with a distorted image as a result.

Take, for example, the fact that women are not required to attend congregational prayers in the mosques as men are. This is due to the fact that women may have to look after young children or may have to do other duties at home. The Prophet, peace be upon him, had told them that in such cases, they may pray at home and that is preferable because they can attend to their family duties.

But we take that as the only instruction in this regard and want to keep women away from mosques all the time. We overlook the other clear instruction by the Prophet, peace be upon him, who tells us: "Do not debar God's women servants to frequent God's mosques."

People frequently say that women's voices should not be heard by men. This is absolute nonsense because it does not have any basis whatsoever. Indeed the reverse is true. There is plenty of Qur'anic evidence to the contrary. Surah 58 begins with a statement which tells the Prophet, peace be upon him, that "God has heard the women who has been arguing you about her husband." That is a woman companion of the Prophet, peace be upon him, who stated to him her case and that means that he heard her voice. Do you think that the Prophet, peace be upon him, would have done any such thing if it was against Islam to hear a woman's voice?

There are numerous Hadiths speaking of women coming to the Prophet, peace be upon him, to inquire about what is permissible and what is not. Never did the Prophet, peace be upon him, indicate to any one of them that they must not speak to him or to his companions. Often the Prophet was with some of his companions when women were talking to him and he never told the men not to listen. Again, the Qur'an tells the believers how to behave when they request something from the Prophet's wives. This means that they would speak to them and listen to their answers. How can anyone say that men must not hear women's voices?

It is not true that Islamic society is a segregated one. Indeed the reverse is true. Islamic society makes use of all the capabilities of all its members, men and women. It tells them that there are certain standards of propriety and decorum which all Muslims must observe. When they do that, they fulfill their duty as good servants of God.

Full size books have been written on this subject, particularly in the last few decades, because scholars have felt that it is their duty to clear prevailing misconceptions about the status of women in Islam. If I were to treat this subject fully, I would need to devote to it several pages of Arab News. One of the best books that I have read on this subject is the one written by the late Moustafa Al-Sibai, former professor of Islamic Law in the University of Damascus. His book Women in Islamic Fiqh and Law, is a comparative study of the status of women in Islam and their rights and obligations under the law. I will summarize here his outline explaining the principles on which the Islamic view of the status of women is based.

1. Men and women are absolutely equal with regard to their human status. Allah says in the Qur'an: "Mankind, remain conscious of your Lord, who has created you all out of a single soul, and out of it created its mate." (4;1) The Prophet says: "Women are the sisters of men." (Related by Ahmad, Abu Dawood and others) Needless to say that brothers and sisters are equally treated.

2. Earlier religions used to put all the blame for man's fall from heaven on women. Islam repudiates that and makes Adam and Eve equally responsible for that. On the incident of their disobedience in heaven, Allah says in the Qur'an: "Satan caused them both to stumble, and thus brought them out of what they had been in." (2;36) Indeed, in some verses, the sin is attributed to Adam alone: "Adam disobeyed his Lord and thus he was astray." (20;12) Furthermore, Islam rejects outright the principle of the original sin. It considers everyone responsible for his or her actions. Thus, no woman is responsible in anyway for what Eve had done in heaven, in the same way as no man is responsible for what Adam did there.

3. A woman is susceptible to faith in the same way as a man is. Thus she deserves admittance into heaven if she does well in her life, and she is liable to punishment if she does badly. The same standard applies here to both men and women. Allah says in the Qur'an: "Whoever does well, whether male or female, having already accepted the faith, shall be made by Us to enjoy a goodly living. We will also administer to them their reward according to their best deeds." (16;97) He also says: "Their Lord answers their prayer: I shall not loose sight of what any of you does, whether man or woman; each of you is an issue of the other." (3;195)

4. Islam denounces the practice of those who feel sad or adopt a gloomy posture when a girl is born to them. This used to be the case in Arabia prior to the advent of Islam, and it is still so in many communities. According to Islam, the birth of a girl should be celebrated in the same way as the birth of a son.

5. Prior to Islam, several Arabian tribes used to bury newborn girls alive. Islam has forbidden that practice and denounced it in clearest of terms, threatening those who kill their children with utter ruin in this life and in the life to come.

6. Islam issues strict orders to all Muslims to take good care of their women and look after them properly, whether they are their daughters, wives or mothers. In connection with looking after young girls, the Prophet says: "He who looks after two young girls until they attain puberty will be on the day of judgment with me like these two (and he pointed with his two fingers)." The Qur'anic verse and the Hadith which says: "The best blessing in this world is a good wife who pleases you when you look at her and protects you when you are away." (Related by Muslim and Ibn Majah) The verses which emphasize the importance of being dutiful to one's parents often highlights the role of mothers in order to stress the fact that a Muslim is always required to take particularly good care of his mother. A man came to the Prophet and asked him: "Who deserves my caring attention most?" The Prophet answered: "Your mother". The man asked: "Who comes next?" The Prophet answered again: "Your mother". He gave the same answer the third time, but when the man asked him the same question again, the Prophet said: "Your father". (Related by Al-Bukhari).

7. Islam also encourages that girls be educated as well as boys. The Prophet says: "To seek education is mandatory on every Muslim." All commentators on Hadith emphasize that this applies to both men and women in the same way. It is well known that a general Islamic order applies to both sexes without distinction, unless there is a specific indication to make it otherwise.

8. Islam has made women entitled to shares in the inheritance of their parents, children or husbands, and Allah has apportioned shares of inheritance to women in all the situations. The right to inherit is given to females whether they are young or old, and indeed to a female embryo who has not been born.

9. Islam has regulated the rights and duties of husband and wife, outlining the rights and obligations of each. Allah says in the Qur'an: "In accordance with justice, the rights of women (with regard to their husbands) are equal to the (husband's) rights with regard to them." (2;238)

10. Islam has also regulated divorce in a way which prevents its abuse by the man. No man can claim any arbitrary authority in matters that relate to divorce. [It is only when men or women overstep the Islamic regulations that injustices occur.]

11. Islam has also regulated polygamy, allowing a man to marry a maximum of four wives at any one time. In other communities which allow polygamy, there is no maximum number of wives a man may have.

12. When a girl is below the age of puberty, she is placed under the care of her guardian who is required to take good care of her, educate her and invest any property she has in a way which ensures its growth. When she comes of age, she has the same legal status as a man. She undertakes all financial and business transactions at the same level as of any man.

To sum up, Islam gives woman the same status as man without any distinction. From the social point of view, it gives her a dignified status throughout her life. Legally, she has the same status as men and she does not need to defer to any authority to be exercised by a man whether he is her father, husband or head of clan.

Having said that, I should point out that there are some minor differences between men and women in certain aspects of Islamic law. These differences relate to a woman's position in her family and her rights, duties and obligations in the Islamic system. They do not reflect on human status.

A woman in the Islamic system is not required to work for her living. Her husband or her guardian is responsible to look after her. If she has none to support her, the state is required to undertake that task. At the same time, a woman is fully entitled to work either as a free agent or an employee. From the Islamic point of view, there is no decent job which is restricted to or made the absolute reserve of men. Provided that the Islamic standard of propriety and morality is maintained, a woman may have any respectable job.

In pre-Islamic days, women were generally ill-treated and given a low status in society. In the Greek civilization, women started with a very low status to the extent that they were considered impure, and they were bought and sold in marketplaces. A woman could not refuse a husband chosen by her guardian and she could not disobey her husband in anyway. Later, they acquired a somewhat higher status, but they remained inferior to men. The same applies to many other old civilizations. Under the Roman Empire, women did not have the right to own anything. If a woman had any property of her own, it was automatically transferred to the ownership of the head of the family. Later, in the reign of Justinian, women were given the right to retain what they earned through their own work, but any money given to a woman by the head of her family remained his.

Christian Europe was influenced by notions that prevailed in the days of paganism about the status of women. As recently as 1805, the English law allowed the man to sell his wife. In the year 586 AD. — that is when Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was still a young man — French elegies organized a convention in which they discussed whether women were human or not. They concluded that a woman was a human being created only to serve men. Even after the French Revolution, in the late 18th century, the French law continued to consider that an unmarried woman was totally unqualified to enter into any contract without the consent of her guardian. The French law of the time stipulated that those who did not have legal status were "young boys, idiots and women."

You ask bout the duties of Muslim woman. In brief I can say that it is the duty of a wife to take good care of her husband and her family. Mothers must always be kind to their children, and daughters must always be respectful of, and dutiful to, their parents.