The traditional pressure to keep women below men was almost completely absent since the beginning of the common era as many women in the Middle East had more rights than those in the West. It was only long after the death of the great prophet Muhammad and the fall of the Abbasid caliphate that polygamy was unleashed and women took up the veil. The role of religion in the oppression of women cannot be overstated, especially when it is so easily visible in a society devoid of secular support.