The Ayah “Men Are in Charge of Women” and the Women’s Taking Charge of the Positions Entailing Guardianship

The fact that the men are in charge of women is expressed in ayah 34 of the surah An-Nisa by Allah. But it is controversial whether by rijal (men) and nisa (women) it is meant the gender of men and women or as to the context of the ayah it is only meant the husband and their wives. Naturally, according to the first possibility, it is more probable that the women can take charge of positions entailing guardianship. While, according to the second possibility, the content of the ayah is allocated to the family domain but not beyond that and its generalization of the content to non-family affairs needs some external efforts. The present article attempts to examine the single words (mofradat) of the ayah and to consider the context and the causations mentioned in the ayah in order to reach its confirmatory denotations and to examine and study those aspects by referring to which one can generalize the content of the ayah from family domain to all social aspects. It is worth noting that the present article considers only the abovementioned ayah which has been considered and discussed from the past. Naturally, the other ayahs of the Holy Quran and their related evidences need further discussion.