The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken steps to allow women to drive.
While this is a monumental step forward for women's rights in the country, this only follows in the vein of what Muhammad sought to bring about 1,400 years ago.
The Arabia of his time was violently anti-woman. Muhammad ended the barbaric practice of female infanticide. He gave women the right to property and inheritance. He brought about women's rights in marriage and in society at large. He went so far as to say that, "Paradise lies under the feet of your mother." (Ibn Majah)
As Ahmadi Muslims and Americans, we routinely benefit from the countless freedoms provided in this nation. Thus we encourage Saudia Arabia to continue marching towards a truly Islamic society in which all citizens are equal.
Men and women are equal in the sight of God, but in view of the differences in their nature, they have been assigned different roles for the smooth functioning of the human society. Women have the unique ability to bear children and to nurture them. Men are physically stronger. In the eye of Allah they both will judged upon their deeds not their physical or emotional differences
Zahid Yousaf
Centreville