Human Capital Development for Women based on the story of Maryam In the al-Quran

Women hold the position of great importance and honour in the history of the glory of Islam. They are important indicators to the agent of the human capital development. Looking to the current challenges of life, issues of women’s rights, modesty, and discrimination becomes the main agenda of the liberation of mind movement known as Liberal Islam. This movement demands the liberation of mind concerning women’s issues. The al-Quran has told stories of women through the story of Maryam. Maryam is one of the stories that can be found in the al-Quran in surah Maryam. Maryam is an example of a Muslim woman that is honourable and obedient towards Allah s.w.t. The story of Maryam proves the power of Allah s.w.t. as it recalls the miraculous story of man’s conception without a father which is the story of the prophet Isa a.s. Maryam was given a specialty by Allah s.w.t. as an example of human capital for women in shaping the feminine values using all the elements available inside them. This study has two objectives. First, it is to study the concept of human capital development from an Islamic perspective. Second, it is to analyse the concept of human capital development of excellent women through the story of Maryam from the al-Quran. This study is analysed using the content analysis method of the data collected from the library. The result of this study finds that the human capital development of women must consist of a balance between physical and spiritual. The result also shows that there are five elements in the human capital development in producing excellent women. Among them are to obey the commands of Allah s.w.t, ‘uzlah (self-isolation), the religious obligations, to try and to believe alongside the maintenance of self-respect in shaping the women of today.