 As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu May peace and blessings be upon you all I am a Shia Muslim and I'd like to congratulate you all on International Women's Day I do not want to just address Muslims through the speech Rather, I hope to address all of humanity Be you male or female, black or white, Christian or Hindu, atheist or agnostic Whoever you may be, this video is for you Because there is an infamous misconception that Islam oppresses the woman That Islam disregards women's rights and wants to bring us all back to the dark ages I would like to put that misconception to rest I will say how can Islam be a religion of hatred towards women when it has been the struggle and determination of the women who laid the foundations of this faith The first person to convert to the religion of Islam was a woman, Khadija, peace be upon her The first person to die for Islam was a woman, Smeya, peace be upon her The person who the Prophet, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family loved more than any other person in the world was a woman, Fatima, peace be upon her The person who sacrificed the most for Islam, her family, her friends, her comfort, her security and an entire lifetime was a woman, Zayna, peace be upon her Islam gave women the right to live when before they were being murdered at birth because of their gender Islam gave women the right to an education, to work, to inherit and to own property when women themselves used to be seen as property Islam gave women the right to be shown respect, to be treated with kindness To choose her own husband when before wives and daughters were used as prizes on a gambler's table These are things that women in the West didn't even have until 20th century in some cases The women is a precious treasure in this religion Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him would say that a righteous woman is greater than 1000 men He, peace be upon him, also said that when a man's faith increases his regard and respect towards women also increases But if this doesn't convince you, let me tell you this In Shia Islam, we believe that the greatest proof of God on earth, Hujjatallah al Akbar is a lady called Fatima to Zahra, peace be upon her She is the beloved daughter of our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family Generations tell us that the status of Lady Fatima, peace be upon her, is so great that on the day of judgement a caller will call out O mankind, bow your heads for Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad is approaching and everyone will bow down in respect to the sublime lady I pray that you have found this video informative and maybe I have been able to change your views May God bless you all, my dear sisters in humanity in which we celebrate how far we have come in our struggle to be recognised Wa sallallahu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wala ahli bayta tayyibin atahireen