Dare to Speak: Islam vs Free Democracy and Free Enterprise (I)
The treatment of women
In the Middle-East of fourteen hundred years ago, the precedents that Muhammad set for the treatment of women were considered liberal. The issue women face today is not so much Islam’s ancient liberality or conservatism, but the fact that Shari’ah has not changed significantly in 1,400 years. While the West has gone through a continuous series of legal experiments on everything from slavery, to religion, to women’s rights, and to child labor, Shari’ah remains little changed, like an artifact from the days of its founder.
To see how this situation affects women, consider the following Koranic verses and their implications on the status of women in the House of Submission. Pay particular attention to the first verse, which already appeared in this book’s discussion on slaves. It explains that, while the penalty for murdering a man is death, the penalty for murdering a man’s wife is death for the wife of the murderer (some may claim that the murderer’s wife should only be confiscated, like a slave, rather than killed). Just like slaves, women are treated as property rather than human beings, without the right to control their own lives.
[2.178] PICKTHAL: O ye who believe! Retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the murdered; the freeman for the freeman, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female.
[2.223] PICKTHAL: Your women are a tilth[1] for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will, and send (good deeds) before you for your souls, and fear Allah, and know that ye will (one day) meet Him.
The Hadith describes how the above verse came about, and also the meaning of “as you will”:
Sunan Abu Dawood, Book 11, Number 2159:…The people of the Book (i.e. the Jews) used to have intercourse with their women on one side alone (i.e. lying on their backs). This was the most concealing position for (the vagina of) the women. This clan of the Ansar adopted this practice from them. But this tribe of the Quraysh used to uncover their women completely, and seek pleasure with them from in front and behind and laying them on their backs.
When the muhajirun (the immigrants) came to Medina, a man married a woman of the Ansar. He began to do the same kind of action with her, but she disliked it, and said to him: We were approached on one side (i.e. lying on the back); do it so, otherwise keep away from me. This matter of theirs spread widely, and it reached the Apostle of Allah…
So Allah, the Exalted, sent down the Qur’anic verse: “Your wives are a tilth to you, so come to your tilth however you will,” i.e. from in front, from behind or lying on the back. But this verse meant the place of the delivery of the child, i.e. the vagina.
[4.3] YUSUF ALI: If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.
[4.11] YUSUF ALI: Allah (thus) directs you as regards your children’s (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females…
[4.24] YUSUF ALI: Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess…
[4.25] If any of you have not the means wherewith to wed free believing women, they may wed believing girls from among those whom your right hands possess…Wed them with the leave of their owners, [2] and give them their dowers…
[23.1-6] DAWOOD: Blessed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers; who avoid profane talk, and give alms to the destitute; who restrain their carnal desires (except with their wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to them) …[3]
The Hadith provides a practical application of this verse which is particularly interesting, because it involves Ali, the husband of Muhammad’s daughter, Fatima:
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 637: Narrated Buraida: The Prophet sent Ali to Khalid to bring the Khumus ([one-fifth] of the booty) and I hated Ali, and Ali had taken a bath (after a sexual act with a slave-girl from the Khumus). I said to Khalid, “Don’t you see this (i.e. Ali)?” When we reached the Prophet I mentioned that to him. He said, “O Buraida! Do you hate Ali?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Do you hate him, for he deserves more than that from the Khumus.”
[4.34] PICKTHAL: Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them[4] to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient…As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then, if they obey you, seek not a way against them.
In his commentary on the Koran, Maududi, the prominent Islamic thinker and leader mentioned earlier, discussed the moderation with which Muhammad exercised the command to “admonish [rebellious wives], banish them to beds apart, and scourge them.” Unfortunately, his discussion has quite a different effect: it reveals the repressive and paternalistic mindset of Islam: [5]
Whenever the prophet…permitted a man to administer corporal punishment to his wife, he did so with reluctance, and continued to express his distaste for it. And even in cases where it is necessary, the Prophet…directed men not to hit across the face, nor to beat severely nor to use anything that might leave marks on the body.
Muhammad’s personal use of the Koran’s guidance regarding women, as well as his “moderation,” is further displayed in hadiths such as the following: [6]
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 14, Number 68:…Allah’s Apostle…said, “Allah Akbar! Khaibar is ruined”…Allah’s Apostle vanquished them by force and their warriors were killed; the children and women were taken as captives. Safiya was taken by Dihya Al-Kalbi and later she belonged to Allah’s Apostle, who married her and her Mahr [bridal gift] was her manumission.
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 34, Number 437:…The Prophet came to Khaibar and when Allah made him victorious and he conquered the town by breaking the enemy’s defense, the beauty of Safiya bint Huyai bin Akhtab was mentioned to him and her husband had been killed while she was a bride. Allah’s Apostle selected her for himself and he set out in her company till he reached Sadd-ar-Rawha’ where her menses were over and he married her.
In other words, Safiya exchanged her slavery for freedom by marrying her owner, the man who wiped out her city, killed her husband, and enslaved those of her family who survived.
The following passages also show how Muhammad used his direct line to Allah for maintaining control over his wives:
[33.30] YUSUF ALI: O Consorts of the Prophet! If any of you were guilty of evident unseemly conduct, the Punishment would be doubled to her, and that is easy for Allah.
[33.31] But any of you that is devout in the service of Allah and His Messenger, and works righteousness, – to her shall We grant her reward twice: and We have prepared for her a generous Sustenance.
[33.32] O Consorts of the Prophet! Ye are not like any of the (other) women: if ye do fear (Allah), be not too complacent of speech, lest one in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire: but speak ye a speech (that is) just.
[33.33] And stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display…
As Islam developed, these words, originally recited by Muhammad to keep his own wives under control, became law for all women.
Other insights on the rights of women, or the lack thereof, come from Ayatollah Sistani’s interpretation of Shari’ah:
2382. If Nikah [marriage contract] of a woman is pronounced to a man without her consent, but later both man and woman endorse the Nikah, the marriage is in order. [7]
2419. If a person contracts Nikah with a non-baligh [pre-pubescent] girl, it is haraam [unlawful] to have sexual intercourse before she has completed her nine years. But if he commits sexual intercourse with her, she will not be haraam for him when she becomes baligh [pubescent], even if she may have suffered Ifza (meaning that her urinary tract and menstrual tract have been one, or her menstrual passage and rectum have been one), though, as a precaution, he should divorce her. [8]
2421. For a woman with whom permanent marriage is contracted, it is haraam to go out of the house without the permission of her husband…Also she should submit herself to his sexual desires, and should not prevent him from having sexual intercourse with her…And as long as she does not fail in her duties, it is obligatory on the husband to provide for her food, clothes and housing.
2422. If the wife does not fulfill her matrimonial duties towards her husband, she will not be entitled for the food, clothes or housing, even if she continues to live with him. But if she refuses to obey occasionally, the common verdict is that even then she cannot claim any entitlement from her husband.
2426. If a man, for example, has two wives and spends one night with one of them, it is obligatory on him to spend any one of four nights with the other as well; in situation other than this, it is not obligatory on a man to stay with his wife…as a precaution, a man should spend one night out of every four with his permanent wife.
2428. If Mahr [a dowry given by the groom to the bride] is not fixed in a permanent marriage, the marriage is in order. And in such case, if the husband has sexual intercourse with the wife, he should pay her proper Mahr which would be in accordance with the Mahr usually paid to women of her category. As regards temporary marriage, however, if Mahr is not fixed, the marriage is void. [9]
This last clause touches on an Islamic institution that appears bizarre and unthinkable to modern Western eyes: temporary marriage. As described by Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s Shari’ah:
There are two kinds of marriages:
(i) Permanent marriage
(ii) Fixed-time marriage
…
In a fixed time marriage, the period of matrimony is fixed, for example, matrimonial relation is contracted with a woman for an hour, or a day, or a month, or a year, or more…This sort of fixed time marriage is called Mut’ah or Sigha.
2375. If a woman appoints a person as her representative so that he may, for example, contract her marriage with a man for ten days, but does not specify the day from which the period of ten days would commence, the representative can contract her marriage with that man for ten days from any day he likes…
2433. A woman with whom temporary marriage is contracted is not entitled to subsistence even if she becomes pregnant. [10]
This “fixed-time marriage,” when combined with the mahr gift for the bride, constitutes a form of prostitution that Islam considers worthy of Allah’s approval, with the woman’s “guardian” playing the role of Allah-approved pimp.
At this point, it is important to note that, while the Sunni and Shiite versions of Shari’ah are very similar in most regards, the institution of temporary marriage is fully sanctioned only by Shiism, which is the sect of Grand Ayatollah Sistani. Sunnis, with whom Saddam Hussein is associated, are much more circumspect about temporary marriage, as the following quote from a Sunni version of Shari’ah reveals: [11]
Temporary Marriage (Mut’ah)
Marriage in Islam is a strong bond, a binding contract, based on the intention of both partners to live together permanently in order to attain, as individuals, the benefit of the repose, affection, and mercy which are mentioned in the Qur’an, as well as to attain the social goal of the reproduction and perpetuation of the human species…
Now, in temporary marriage (known in Arabic as mut’ah), which is contracted by the two parties for a specified period of time, in exchange for a specified sum of money, the above-mentioned purposes of marriage are not realized. While the Prophet…permitted temporary marriage during journeys and military campaigns before the Islamic legislative process was complete, he later forbid it and made it forever haraam.
The reason it was permitted in the beginning was that the Muslims were passing through what might be called a period of transition from jahiliyyah [ignorance] to Islam.…After the advent of Islam,…on military expeditions, they were under great pressure as a result of being absent from their wives for long periods of time…The weak ones feared that they would be tempted to commit adultery, a major sin and an evil course, while the strong in faith, on the other hand, were ready to castrate themselves, as stated by Ibn Mas’ud: We were on an expedition with the Messenger of Allah…and did not have our wives with us, so we asked Allah’s Messenger…, ‘Should we not castrate ourselves?’…He forbade us to do so but permitted us to contract marriage with a woman up to a specified date, giving her a garment as a dower (mahr) …
…
…the Prophet…adopted a course of gradualism in the matter of sex, at first permitting temporary marriage as a step leading away from fornication and adultery, and at the same time coming closer to the permanent marriage relationship. He then prohibited it absolutely…In…the hadith we find the Prophet’s own words, “Allah has made it haraam until the Day of Resurrection. ”
…
The majority of the Companions [of the Prophet] held the view that after the completion of the Islamic legislation, temporary marriage was made absolutely haraam. Ibn ‘Abbas, however, held a different opinion, permitting it under necessity…Later, however, when Ibn ‘Abbas saw that people had become lax and were engaging in temporary marriages without necessity, he withdrew his ruling, reversing his opinion…
Even though Sunnis do not join with Shiites in overtly approving temporary marriage, they recognize that Muhammad himself sanctioned it at one time, and see it as something that may be tolerated in difficult circumstances, though strongly disapproved. The question we are left with is: Under what circumstances is temporary marriage is necessary?
Unless human physiology has changed dramatically since the days of Muhammad, the idea that temporary marriage is necessary is absurd, as is the notion that men’s sexual urges are so strong that they have to castrate themselves to maintain control of their bodies. This whole story smells of a fabrication meant to rationalize Muhammad’s shifting policies.
To understand Muhammad’s own views on marriage, consider the following hadith, from a time when Muhammad already had numerous wives. This hadith echoes the “garment as a dower” anecdote used to explain the institution of temporary marriage:
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 63, Number 182:…The Prophet said, “Sit here,” and went in (the garden). The Jauniyya (a lady from Bani Jaun) had been…lodged in a…garden in the home of Umaima bint An-Nu’man bin Sharahil, and her wet nurse was with her. When the Prophet entered upon her, he said to her, “Give me yourself (in marriage) as a gift.” She said, “Can a princess give herself in marriage to an ordinary man?” The Prophet raised his hand to pat her so that she might become tranquil. She said, “I seek refuge with Allah from you.” He said, “You have sought refuge with One Who gives refuge.” Then the Prophet came out to us and said, “O Abu Usaid! Give her two white linen dresses to wear and let her go back to her family.”
While secular governments often tolerate prostitution, Islam introduces the strange notion that prostitution has Allah’s approval, at least under certain circumstances. This concept is even stranger because Islam calls extra-marital sex a Hudd crime. Adultery is the crime that nearly caused the stoning of several Nigerian women in 2002. [12] If those women had only contracted to be married for an hour and accepted payment for it, then, at least according to the Shiite Shari’ah, the whole ugly business of death by stoning could have been avoided.
Such laws are more than absurd; they have profoundly harmful affects on women’s health. For example, Arab News recently reported that Saudi Arabia has attached conditions to a pregnant woman’s right to enter a hospital:
Men Must Accompany Pregnant Women in Clinics
Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News Staff
JEDDAH, 30 September 2003 — Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Qassim Al-Qasabi has issued a directive to all hospitals advising that they should admit pregnant women only if they are accompanied by men who are prepared to take responsibility for both the mother and child…
…
In the event that a woman is admitted to a hospital’s emergency room and is not accompanied by a man, she is to be held at the hospital in specially designated rooms to prevent her escape…
If no one comes to claim responsibility for the woman, she is to be transferred to one of the Kingdom’s social service providers after the local police have been notified.
The need to call the police and physically prevent pregnant women from escaping makes one wonder about the nature of the services provided by the social service providers. When this information is combined with Shari’ah’s directive that women proven to have had sex outside of marriage are to be stoned to death, it becomes clear why those unaccompanied women might want to escape. It also becomes clear that many pregnant women will stop going to the hospital.
Another Islamic policy that affects both women’s health and their economic well-being is opposition to birth control, which religious leaders often portray as an Infidel conspiracy to keep Muslims from gaining power. This theory ignores the fact that Infidel nations are the greatest “victims” of this so-called conspiracy. In fact, birth rates in Europe and Japan have become so low that they are unable to maintain their population levels. Islam’s religious leaders also ignore the fact that much of the developing world faces a crushing overpopulation crisis, which birth control has done much to abate in the developed world. But while the West views birth control as a way to avoid overpopulation, poverty, pollution, and habitat destruction, Islamic leaders view it as a plot to undermine Islam.
For example, one Islamic website, Mission Islam,[13] says that part of its mission is:
To increase awareness as to the extent of oppression against Muslims throughout the world and the conspiracy…to exterminate Muslims and the religion of Islam from the face of the Earth.
This website links to an article entitled Population Control: Centerpiece of Imperialist Aggression against the Muslim World, which talks at length about imagined plots to trick Muslims into using birth control and thereby depopulate the House of Islam.
The authority of Islam’s prohibition against birth control comes from hadiths such as: [14]
Sahih Bukhari, vol. 5, book 59, no. 459…We went out with Allah’s Apostle…and we received captives from among the Arab captives and we desired women, and celibacy became hard on us, and we loved to do coitus interruptus [the “withdrawal” method of birth control]…we said, “How can we do coitus interruptus before asking Allah’s Apostle who is present among us?” We asked [Muhammad] about it and he said, ‘It is better for you not to do so, for if any soul (till the Day of Resurrection) is predestined to exist, it will exist.’
Interestingly, Muhammad’s response implied that Allah gave Muhammad’s followers permission to rape captured women without any sense of obligation to those they impregnated.
Despite this hadith’s faulty logic, [15] it has been interpreted to mean that Muhammad told the faithful to have full-fledged sex with the captives because coitus interruptus represents an attempt to prevent souls destined to be born from being born. Thus Muhammad is seen as opposing birth control.
The next hadith reveals that, on top of Shari’ah’s requirement that women submit themselves sexually to their husbands, and not use birth control, the powers of Heaven are also invoked to compel women to have many children: [16]
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 54, Number 460:…Allah’s Apostle said, “If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning. ”
The results of Islam’s mandates and beliefs are revealed in the following excerpt of a BBC article, entitled India losing population battle,[17] which also shows another way women who violate Islamic principles become targets of psychological cruelty:
Aasiyah Begum has given birth to 29 children she thinks, but five have died.
…
She says birth control is against her religion – Islam – and adds: “It’s a sin to have an operation. No prayers would be said at my grave when I die. Only people with serious health problems can have operations.”
Islam’s opposition to birth control is not unique among religions. However, its requirement that women have sex with their husbands, on demand, without birth control, together with its cruel punishments for those who practice birth control, create a birthrate “perfect storm.”
Fortunately, the practical issues of overpopulation are beginning to force Muslim nations to endorse birth control regardless of tradition, [18] but Muslims face no such constraints in Western lands free of overpopulation stresses.
Shari’ah restricts women in so many ways that appear nonsensical and exploitive to Westerners that a commentary on all of them would fill another book. To keep the focus of Dare to Speak on its intended topic, selections from Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s Shari’ah that discuss women have been copied, without comment, into Appendix B. Please read them and come to your own conclusions.
While it may be true that Islam gave women certain rights that Arabian women did not have before Muhammad, it also gave women a decidedly second-class status. According to the Allah-given laws of Islam, women are property, serving the function of baby-producing tilths. Islam justifies this ruling through the Koran’s reasoning that women are weaker and men provide for them. And finally, because women are weak and provided for by men, whom they serve as baby-makers, women should obey men. Concepts that strengthen women physically, legally, and economically, such as modern medical care and birth control, and Western notions of fairness and equality, are secondary matters if they matter at all.
This second-class status also explains Islamic policies on interfaith marriage. Muslim men are allowed to marry non-Muslim women “of the Book,” but Muslim women are not allowed to marry non-Muslim men “of the Book.” If a Muslim woman wants to marry a non-Muslim man, then the man must convert to Islam.
Why does this difference exist? The answer is that Islam is less concerned about belief and more concerned about political allegiance and power. In the House of Islam, children are raised in the faiths of their fathers. Therefore, the most peaceful and easy method for spreading Islam is marriage, with the children being raised as Muslims. As time goes on, other religions will naturally dwindle.
To allow couples to choose their faiths on the basis of their actual beliefs would not serve Islam’s political objectives. Therefore, Islamic politics take precedence over a Muslim woman’s right to marry the man of her choice, just as it takes precedence over a non-Muslim woman’s right to raise her children in her own faith, regardless of the strength of her faith or the weakness of her Muslim husband’s faith. Under Shari’ah, religious and governmental authorities have the legal right to force a couple to divorce if the husband and wife do not comply with these laws.
Despite obvious inequities, Muslim women have been brainwashed into thinking that they are more liberated than Western women. To understand their perspective, read the following portions of a website made by and for Muslim women, [19] and notice that every time these women proclaim a right, no matter how trivial, they follow up with a qualifier that undermines it:
Muslim Women Have the Right to Go Outside of Her Home
Muslim women are not forbidden from going out in the community, working, or visiting relatives and female friends, if there is no objection from their guardian/husband and they are covered and behave and speak according to Islamic guidelines and, if necessary, escorted by their Mahram (a close male relative). However, a woman’s home should be the main base that she works from.
…
A Woman in Islam Has the Right to Get an Education
In the words of the Prophet Muhammad…
“To seek knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim.”
…
“Muslim,” here, meaning male and female Muslims, as women are the twin halves of men….
This is referring to religious knowledge, in the first place, and to any other kind of knowledge, in the second place, where one has the intention of benefiting herself, her family and the Islamic society. Additionally, a husband should not forbid his wife from going out of the house to seek basic religious knowledge, unless he is teaching her at home…
The Right to Go to the Mosque
The Messenger of Allah…said:
“If someone’s wife asks his permission to go to the mosque, he should not deny it to her.”
…
At the same time, a woman’s prayer in her home is better, from the standpoint of her household duties and duties as a mother. Also it is better in the sense that it prevents unnecessary mixing with men. The Prophet…also stated on another occasion:
“But their homes are better for them.”…
Islam Gives Men and Women Equal Rights
…Equality and sameness are two very different things…
In the West, women may be doing the same job that men do, but their wages are often less…whatever rights modern Western women have, they fall short of those of her Muslim counterpart! Islam has given woman what duties [fit] her female nature. It gives her full security and protects her against becoming what Western modern women themselves complain against: a “mere sex object.”
The Right to Seek Employment
…
While Islam does not prohibit women working outside the home, it does stipulate that the following restrictions be followed to safeguard the dignity and honor of women and the purity and stability of the Islamic society…:
1. Outside employment should not come before, or seriously interfere with her responsibilities as wife and mother.
2. Her work should not be a source of friction within the family, and the husband’s consent is required in order to eliminate later disagreements. If she is not married, she must have her guardian’s consent.
3. Her appearance, manner and tone of speech and overall behavior should follow Islamic guidelines. These include: restraining her glances in relation to any men near the work place, wearing correct Islamic dress, avoiding men, not walking in a provocative manner, and not using make-up or perfume in public.
…
5. Her job should not be one which is mixing and associating with men.
6. A woman should try to seek employment in positions which require a woman’s special skills, or which relate to the needs of women and children, such as teaching, nursing other women, midwifery, medicine with specializations like pediatric or obstetrics-gynecology.
While this Muslim women’s website may level some well-placed jabs at Western society, these jabs pale next to the body blows it delivers to Islamic women. Moreover, there is one jab at the West that seems misplaced: the claim that Islam protects women from becoming “mere sex objects.” If Shari’ah allows wives to be punished by their husbands for refusing sex, the natural effect would be to reduce them to the status of “mere sex object.”
It turns out that the rights these Muslim women claim to have are not rights at all, because every time a “right” is given with one hand, it is taken away with the other. The bottom line is that there is very little a good Muslim woman can do without the approval of her husband or a (male) guardian. She cannot even go outside lawfully unless accompanied by an escort.
How does Islam respond to such accusations? The Complete Idiot’s Guide for Understanding Islam answers with a clever combination of half-truths, spin, and anti-Western slander:
Islam does not teach that women are inferior in religion or in political rights…Rather, it elevates women by freeing them from a lot of drudgery that God has said men are primarily responsible for…Men are the undeclared servants of women, in an ideal Islamic sense. [20]
One of the dictates [of the Koran] is that a female will inherit a share that is only half that of the man’s. This seems unfair on the face of it, but remember, the role of men in an Islamic family. The man has to support the family as a matter of religious obligation while the woman is not obligated to spend a dime. [21]
The Qur’an allows a man to marry up to four wives…What could be the reason for this seemingly licentious privilege for men?
…
It is an often misunderstood solution to certain unique problems…What…if there is a shortage of men, say, because of war?…What about men who have a hard time being monogamous…? What if a woman is barren? Should she be divorced and cast aside in favor of a fertile wife?
…
Polygyny[22] is the answer to all of these problems. It actually works in women’s favor by tying the man to each wife so much so that he is more aware of his responsibilities, trying to earn enough to support his extended family. [23]
In other words, Islam does not subjugate women to men, but instead makes men “undeclared servants” of women. Polygyny does not give men an advantage by making it possible for men to play one wife against the other, as Muhammad did, [24] but actually favors women. Obviously, this favoritism toward women must be why women are not allowed to marry multiple men. And, of course, it makes sense for a woman to receive half the inheritance of her brother, because women do not have to support a family, even if the brother has no family to support but the sister does.
The Koran for Dummies also adds that one should not say that the Koran endorses polygyny, but “In truth, the Scripture seeks to limit polygamy, which was uncontrolled and widely practiced in pre-Islamic times across Arabia and other parts of the world.” [25] Unfortunately, The Koran for Dummies does not explain how this “limit” can have any positive affect on the monogamous societies of today.
After explaining how polygynous marriage is fair, and works to the advantage of women, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam goes on to talk about divorce. Unfortunately, its discussion does not explain how Islam’s slanted divorce laws are also fair to women. Instead, it praises their efficiency, at least for men: [26]
Talaq: Male-Initiated Divorce
The procedure for divorce in Islam is relatively easy. If two people have resolved to end their marriage, then why should there be a long drawn-out and bitter fight in court? The male-initiated divorce is called talaq, or divorce. The man must pronounce to his wife three times the word “Talaq!” …then…all sexual relations must stop for a period of three menstrual cycles to see if the woman is pregnant…During that time, the Qur’an forbids the man to force the woman out of the house or to emotionally abuse her. He still has to pay all the bills as well…
Khul’: [27] Female-Initiated Divorce
Women are not forever bound to men they want to leave. Islam provides a way for women to initiate divorce called Khul’. Basically, a woman can file papers with an Islamic court or a recognized scholar, asking to divorce her husband. Although she doesn’t need the permission of her husband, she does need a compelling reason. She must agree to give up all or part of her dowry in compensation to the soon-to-be divorced husband, the amount being determined by the importance of her reason for wanting to leave the marriage…
In other words, after extolling the ease with which men can divorce women, the author goes on to describe how women must undergo “long drawn-out” court procedures to divorce men.
The power men have over women through their ability to divorce with ease is further underscored by the following hadith:
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 43, Number 630:…Regarding the explanation of the following verse: — “If a wife fears Cruelty or desertion…” (4.128) A man may dislike his wife and intend to divorce her, so she says to him, “I give up my rights, so do not divorce me.”
While Muslims may have a point when they claim that “equality and sameness are two very different things,” one would be hard-pressed to explain how women enjoy equality with men under Shari’ah.
After explaining Shari’ah’s “equal” treatment of women, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam goes on to blame the West for all of the problems that Shari’ah creates:
In most Muslim countries, few people have any rights, men or women. Remember that the Islamic civilization was virtually wiped out during the era of Colonialism, and thus what is left is a confused jumble of customs, religious ideas, imported governmental structures, political turmoil, and poverty. [28]
So, from the Islamic standpoint, the liberation of women is not accomplished by rejecting their religion but by actually implementing it. Replacing the current regimes in Muslim countries with Islamic governments that will rule according to the Qur’an is also essential. [29]
In other words, if Islamic women appear repressed, it is not because of longstanding practices in the Islamic world. Rather, it is the result of Western corruption and domination, and “imported governmental structures” such as democracy. And the solution to any inequity is, of course, to rid the Islamic world of corrupting Western-style governance and institute Islamic governments that rule according to Shari’ah.
Beyond the alarming concepts these supposedly “cute” introductory books present, they carry a distinct echo of the apologists for Communism during the Soviet Union’s declining years. People who remember those debates will recall such remarks as: “It’s not that Communism doesn’t work, it’s that Communism has never been tried,” and “the government of (the Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba – take your pick) is not true Communism.”
The people who said such things wanted their listeners to believe that the solution to Communism’s failure was to impose a more Communistic Communism. And similarly, according to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Islam, the solution to Islam’s problems is a more Islamic Islam. In fact, the argument that Islamic nations do not practice true Islamic Law has been used to rationalize Muslims living in Infidel lands. As The Koran for Dummies explains: [30]
If Muslims have a real problem with following secular laws [in Western nations], they should migrate (make Hijra) to Muslim lands where they can freely follow their religion. However…that is nearly impossible because there is not a single government left today that truly practices Islamic law.
As ridiculous as this claim would sound to someone living in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, etc., it works as a way to blame Muslim problems on the West that gullible Westerners who know no better guiltily accept.
One of the arguments that The Koran for Dummies makes is that, rather than move back to their homelands in the House of Submission, Muslims should work peacefully through the democratic process to establish true Islamic states wherever they are. The author seems unable to recognize that the repressive regimes Muslims flee are the fruits of Islamic culture. Like vectors in an epidemic, these Muslims carry the disease they hope to escape.
Returning to our discussion of women, The Koran for Dummies also explains why male witnesses have a stronger voice than women in court : [31]
The Koran says that…there should be two male witnesses to [every business] transaction. But, if two men are not available, then one male witness and two female witnesses suffice, so that if one woman makes a mistake the other can remind her (2:282).
…Critics…claim that this verse makes women appear intellectually inferior to men…these claims are incorrect. You have to remember that at the time of revelation, women were largely unfamiliar with business practices as a sector that was mostly male dominated. (Unfortunately, the same holds true today for women in some parts of the world.) This stipulation about female witnessing performs a function of justice in fair business practices and doesn’t represent female inferiority in any way.
This explanation raises several questions:
How is it fair that no quantity of female witnesses is sufficient unless a male witness is also present, even though it is sufficient to have two male witnesses but no females?
How is it that the eternal word of Allah could have issued a law that was a product of its times and is no longer relevant? Do Muslims really believe that it is no longer relevant?
Would the places where “the same holds true today for women,” tend to be in Western nations or Islamic nations?
Muhammad, whose great wisdom is revered throughout the House of Islam, provides a clear answer to all of these questions, through a hadith that is repeated numerous times: [32]
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 48, Number 826:…The Prophet said, “Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?” The women said, “Yes.” He said, “This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.”
Today, few people would argue that the minds of Western women are so deficient that they are incapable of standing alone in a court of law. When The Koran for Dummies asserts that “the same holds true today in some parts of the world,” its author is not talking about Free Democracies in the West. Instead, he appears to describe Islamic lands, where Shari’ah laws create women who need Islam’s paternalism.
We can therefore infer that the author is correct when he assert that “This stipulation about female witnessing…doesn’t represent female inferiority.” Instead, this stipulation joins with other Islamic laws to impose female inferiority, and dependence on men.
Another way Islam imposes dependency on women is by limiting their mobility, as revealed in the following article:
Nigerian taxis fined for carrying women
Reuters, MSNBC News, Jan. 6, 2006
KANO, Nigeria – A court in the northern Nigerian city of Kano has fined 45 motorcycle taxi riders for transporting women, in violation of a new rule to comply with Islamic Sharia law, a court official said on Friday.
The ban on women passengers…has caused controversy in the city, which is predominantly Muslim but has a sizable Christian community.
Besides hurting all women, regardless of religion, these transportation rules also harm Nigeria’s economy and quality of life by making it harder for women to work and go about their daily business, and by depriving taxi drivers of a substantial clientele.
A dramatic way to discover Islam’s true position on women is to read what Muhammad himself had to say. The next hadith restates Muhammad’s previous quote, but goes even further with his mean-spirited put-downs: [33]
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 6, Number 301:…Once Allah’s Apostle…passed by the women and said, “O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women).” They asked, “Why is it so, O Allah’s Apostle?” He replied, “You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you.” The women asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?” He said, “Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?” They replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn’t it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?” The women replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is the deficiency in her religion.”
There is one last way in which Muslims claim to treat women more equally than Infidels, particularly Christians and Jews. This is in Islam’s version of the story of Adam and Eve. In presenting Islam’s advantage regarding this story, The Koran for Dummies says:
Eve’s story in the Koran stands in stark contrast with the Biblical narrative of creation. Feminists might find these differences between the Biblical and Koranic narratives quite interesting.
…
The Koran offers a story that absolves Eve, and thus woman, from tempting Adam into sin. Rather, the Koran identifies Satan as the enemy of both sexes.
At this point, it should be no surprise that this claim about Islam is completely untrue. Islamic scripture blames Eve quite harshly, as can be seen in several hadiths, such as: [34]
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 547:…The Prophet said, “But for the Israelis, meat would not decay and but for Eve, wives would never betray their husbands.”
In summary, Islamic women have been locked into a truly medieval position in Islamic society. But as abject as Muslim women may appear to Westerners, the position of secular and liberal Muslims is even worse, as the next section reveals.
REFERENCES FOR SECTION 2:
[1]Cultivation of land; tillage…Tilled earth. From The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition, ed. Joseph P. Pickett, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
[2]How about getting the permission of the slave?
[3] Dawood’s translation is used in this case because the two more authorized versions are difficult to read. For the sake of consistency, however, the Yusuf Ali translation is included here:
[23.1] YUSUF ALI: The believers must (eventually) win through…
[23.5] [those] who abstain from sex,
[23.6] except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or (the captives) whom their right hands possess, – for (in their case) they are free from blame…
[4] That is, men.
[5] Towards Understanding the Qur’an, by Syed Abul-A’ala Mawdudi (translated by Zafar I. Ansari from Tafheem Al-Qur’an), Islamic Foundation, Leicester, England. Commentary on Surah 4, ayah 34.
[6] Similar hadiths can be found in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 8, Number 367, Volume 3, Book 34, Number 431, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 143, Volume 5, Book 59, Numbers 512, 513, 522, & 524, Volume 8, and Book 75, Number 374.
[7] Islamic Laws: Marriage, Part I of II, by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini Al-Sistani, section entitled Conditions of Pronouncing Nikah.
[8] You may have to read this article of law a few times to fully appreciate it. Let it sink in.
[9] Islamic Laws: Marriage, Part I of II, by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini Al-Sistani, section entitled Rules regarding permanent marriage.
[10] Islamic Laws: Marriage, Part II of II, by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini Al-Sistani, section entitled Mut’ah (Temporary Marriage) .
[11] The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam, by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Islamic Book Service, 1982.
[12] Woman sentenced to stoning freed, by Jeff Koinange, CNN, February 23, 2004.
[13] See www.missionislam.com.
[14] Similar hadiths can be found in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 46, Number 718, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 137, Volume 8, Book 77, Number 600, and Malik’s Muwatta, Book 29, Number 29.32.95.
[15] If it is true that “if any soul…is predestined to exist, it will exist,” then it could also be predestined that the use of coitus interruptus prevented conception.
[16] Similar hadiths can be found in Sahih Muslim, Book 8, Numbers 3366, 3367, & 3368.
[17] India losing population battle, by Adam Mynot, BBC News, World Edition, December 3, 2002.
[18] Iran’s Birth Rate Plummeting at Record Pace, by Janet Larson, Earth Policy Institute, December 21, 2001.
[19] See www.themuslimwoman.com/herrights/womensrights.htm.
[20] The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam, by Yahiya Emerick, Alpha Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2002, Chapter 20, section entitled Beyond Stereotypes, page 251.
[21] Ibid, Chapter 20, section entitled Why Only Half an Inheritance? , page 259.
[22] Most people believe that Islam supports polygamy, but this in fact is not the case, because polygamy allows women to have multiple husbands. With polygyny, only men can have multiple wives.
[23] Ibid, Chapter 20, section entitled Polygamy in Islam, page 260-261.
[24] See discussion of Surah 66 of the Koran, known as The Prohibition, found in the section of this book entitled Muhammad’s reign: Church and State bound together in one Messenger.
[25] The Koran for Dummies, by Sohaib Sultan, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2004, Chapter 15, section entitled Giving equal time: Polygamy for men, page 218.
[26] The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam, by Yahiya Emerick, Alpha Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2002, Chapter 20, section entitled Divorce in Islam, page 262.
[27] Also referred to as Khul’a.
[28] Ibid, Chapter 20, section entitled The Struggle for Equal rights, pages 252.
[29] Ibid, Chapter 20, section entitled The Struggle for Equal rights, pages 253.
[30] The Koran for Dummies, by Sohaib Sultan, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2004, Chapter 11, section entitled Doing as God and His Messenger Do, page 164.
[31] The Koran for Dummies, by Sohaib Sultan, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2004, Chapter 19, section entitled Right to bear witness to business transactions, page 294.
[32] Similar hadiths can be found in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 28, Book 6, Number 301, Volume 2, Book 18, Number 161, Volume 2, Book 24, Number 541, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 125, Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 142, and Malik’s Muwatta, Book 12, Number 12.1.2.
[33] Similar hadiths can be found in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 28; Volume 2, Book 18, Number 161; Volume 2, Book 24, Number 541, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 125; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 142, and Malik’s Muwatta, Book 12, Number 12.1.2.
[34] Similar hadiths can be found in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 611, and Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 3472.
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