The Tunisian thinker Tahir Haddad claims that the Islamic rulings on women are bound to the historical contexts in which they originated, and, therefore, such rulings do not meet the demands of contemporary times. How true is this statement?

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad , is His slave and Messenger.

This statement is absolutely false, and it is promoted by the so-called modernists, who reject Islamic tradition in its entirety. Haddad is one of those. The Maliki Mufti of Tunisia judged Haddad to be an apostate because of his false claims about Islam. Islamic laws are universal, and they are applicable in all times and places.

Allah, the Almighty, says (what means): {This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.} [Quran 5: 3]

Commenting on this verse, Ibn Katheer said:

This verse refers to one of the greatest blessings that Allah conferred on Muslims. Allah, the Almighty, has perfectly completed the principles of the Islamic religion so that humanity will need no more religions or prophets to come later. Towards that end, Prophet Muhammad , came as the final Prophet as he was sent to all humans and jinn. The lawful things are the things that the Prophet , judged to be lawful, and the unlawful things are the things that he judged to be unlawful. There is no religion except that which Prophet Muhammad , brought. Whatever he said is true; he never lied or made things up. Allah, the Almighty, says (what means): {And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice.} [Quran 6: 115] The Prophet , has conveyed the truth, and his teachings stand for perfect justice. That Allah has completed the religion for the Muslims means that He has given them an extremely perfect blessing. Allah, the Almighty, is satisfied with Islam as a religion for all humans, and so should all humans. This is because Islam is the religion that Allah loves for people and which Allah sent the final Prophet with. Above all, Islam is the religion that brought the best Book with it.       

Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm said:

There is a unanimous agreement that the Revelation has stopped and the religion has been completely established since the Prophet , passed away. This means that nobody is allowed to add, remove, or replace a religious teaching without textual evidence. Nor is anybody allowed to set up a law that clashes with the law of the religion. Whoever does any of these violations should be judged as a disbeliever.

We ask you to contemplate the state that our Muslim societies have reached because of such false claims (like those of Haddad) that go against the religion and normative practice. We achieved nothing; neither did we become refined nations, nor did we maintain our religious identity. 

Allah knows best.