WOMEN IN POLITICS: The Islamic Perspectives

Abstract

Participation of Muslim women in politics has continued to generate discussions for quite a long time. Muslim jurists have varying opinion on whether a Muslim woman can actively participate in politics like her male counterpart or not. The views against their participation have been used by some writers, especially feminists, to accuse Islam of discrimination against female folk. The paper intends to revisit this issue and discuss both opinions with a view to seeing how feasible will it be for Muslim women to participate in Nigerian politics. In addition to a survey of roles played by Muslim women in various Islamic states, the paper considers what kind of role they could play in various aspects of our political life