As part of Islam Awareness Week (lgf: search), a female representative for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (lgf: search) gave a speech at the University of Texas at Austin, sponsored by the Muslim Students Association (lgf: search), and told the audience that women are treated exceptionally well under Islam: Expert says women honored in Islam. (Hat tip: Hans ze Beeman.)

Women have a place of respect and honor in Islam, despite popular misconceptions, a spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council said Thursday. Edina Lekovic, said women have historically had an important role in Islam.

The Quran grants women the right to divorce their husbands, to inherit property and to choose whom they marry, she said in a speech Thursday hosted by the Muslim Student’s Association.

“Within the Quran itself, not only were women granted rights, they were granted revolutionary rights within that historical context,” Lekovic said.

Muslim women should assert themselves as they strive for equal rights, Lekovic said.

“The struggle that Muslim women are dealing with is very much like the struggle of women around the world,” she said.

Lekovic was raised a Muslim, she said. But it was not until college that she looked into different religions and chose to practice Islam. She chose to wear the hijab, the traditional head scarf of Muslim women, due to its symbolic power, she said.

“It is simply a symbol of modesty, insofar as a woman is to be respected for her mind, for her intelligence, for what she has to offer the world, rather than for her body or for her sexuality,” Lekovic said.

Zahra Yusufali, a member of the Muslim Students’ Association, also wears the hijab.

“Muslim men look at women through their heart,” said Yusufali, an applied learning and development freshman.

Hatun Surucu might disagree, if she were still alive.

Here’s a partial record of LGF posts about the status of women in Islam: lgf: search.