A Religious Text is to be viewed in the context it was written,nothing more, nothing less.
Islam has had a woman problem from the beginning. One of the pillars of radical ( some would say “true”) Islam is the subjugation of women. Perhaps you got the left-wing public school version of Islam, about how Mohammed pioneered the women’s liberation movement. But this was a man who, at the age of 52, consummated his marriage to a 9 year old girl. Today, we call that first degree criminal sexual conduct. And the continued control and dehumanization of women remains so central to the power of radical Islam that women who resist it are often beaten or killed.
But Islam has a new “woman problem.” And it’s a media problem. With the brutal sexual assault and beating of CBS News reporter Lara Logan by Egyptian men, and revelations last month about Pakistani gangs preying on white girls in Britain, the western media has been dragged into an issue it should have been fully exploring long ago, and that is the pattern of sexual abuse and violence against women by Muslim men.
National Review’s Andrew McCarthy writes that sexual violence against non-Muslim women is “perpetrated by Islamic supremacists acting on a sense of entitlement derived from their scriptures, fueled by the rage of their jihad, and enabled by the deafening silence of the media.”
Islam expert Robert Spencer details how rape and the sexual abuse of non-Muslim women is central to Islam. He writes, “After one successful battle, Muhammad tells his men, “Go and take any slave girl.” He took one for himself also. After the notorious massacre of the Jewish Qurayzah tribe, he did it again.”
Spencer adds that, “the Islamic legal manual ‘Umdat al-Salik, which carries the endorsement of (Egypt’s) Al-Azhar University, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, stipulates: “When a child or a woman is taken captive, they become slaves by the fact of capture, and the woman’s previous marriage is immediately annulled.” Why? So that they are free to become the concubines of their captors.”
Last month politically correct Britain was rocked when a Labor Party Parliament Member, Jack Straw—he’s no right-winger—publicly accused British Pakistani gangs of preying on white girls because they are seen as ‘easy meat’.
British columnist Melanie Philips writes that the problem in Britain is more serious and widespread than described by Straw, and that, “Police operations going back to 1996 have revealed a disturbingly similar pattern of collective abuse involving small groups of Muslim men committing a particular type of sexual crime. This has typically involved abducting, raping or otherwise sexually attacking hundreds of mainly white girls aged 11 to 16, as well as enslaving them through alcohol and drugs and grooming them for sex.”
McCarthy writes that Muslim men learn from the Koran and Islamic Sharia law that women are less than fully human and mere toys for sexual gratification:
As documented in “Sharia Law for Non-Muslims,” a study published by the Center for the Study of Political Islam, Mohammed declared that women are inferior to men in both intelligence and religious devotion (Bukhari hadith 1.6.301), and that women will make up most of those condemned to Hell. (Bukahri 7.62.132). Sexual abuse is encouraged not only by hadith but…by sharia standards…
I have interviewed Muslims and former Muslims from many different nations and yes, there are seemingly “normal” Muslim families where women appear to have equal rights. But that should not divert our attention from what the Koran and Hadith teach Muslim men about women, and the terrible consequences of that.
Related:
The study of women in Islam investigates the role of women within the religion of Islam.[1] The complex relationship between women and Islam is defined by both Islamic texts and the history and culture of theMuslim world.[2] While men and women have different roles within Islam, many argue that the Qur’an makes it clear that they are equal.[3][4][5]
Sharia (Islamic law) provides for complementarianism,[6] differences between women’s and men’s roles, rights, and obligations. Majority Muslim countries give women varying degrees of rights with regards tomarriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education based on different interpretations. Scholars and other commentators vary as to whether they are just and whether they are a correct interpretation of religious imperatives. Conservatives argue that differences between men and women are due to different status, while liberal Muslims, Muslim feminists, and others argue in favor of other interpretations. Some women have achieved high political office in Muslim majority states.
Historically, women played an important role in the foundation of many Islamic educational institutions, such as Fatima al-Fihri‘s founding of the University of Al Karaouine in 859 CE. This continued through to the Ayyubid dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries, when 160 mosquesand madrasahs were established in Damascus, 26 of which were funded by women through the Waqf (charitable trust or trust law) system. Half of all the royal patrons for these institutions were also women.[26]
According to the Sunni scholar Ibn Asakir in the 12th century, there were various opportunities for female education in what is known as themedieval Islamic world. He writes that women could study, earn ijazahs (academic degrees), and qualify as scholars (ulamā’) and teachers. This was especially the case for learned and scholarly families, who wanted to ensure the highest possible education for both their sons and daughters.[27] Ibn Asakir had himself studied under 80 different female teachers in his time. In nineteenth-century West Africa, Nana Asma’uwas a leading Islamic scholar, poet, teacher and an exceptionally prolific Muslim female writer who wrote more than 60 works. Female education in the Islamic world was inspired by Muhammad’s wives: Khadijah, a successful businesswoman, and Aisha, a renowned hadith scholar and military leader. The education allowed was often restricted to religious instruction. According to a hadith attributed toMuhammad, he praised the women of Medina because of their desire for religious knowledge:[28]
“How splendid were the women of the ansar; shame did not prevent them from becoming learned in the faith.”
While it was not common for women to enroll as students in formal classes, it was common for women to attend informal lectures and study sessions at mosques, madrassas and other public places. For example, the attendance of women at the Fatimid “sessions of wisdom” (majālis al-ḥikma) was noted by various historians including Ibn al-Tuwayr and al-Muṣabbiḥī.[29] Similarly, although unusual in 15th-centuryIran, both women and men were in attendance at the intellectual gatherings of the Ismailis where women were addressed directly by theImam.[30]
While women accounted for no more than one percent of Islamic scholars prior to the 12th century, there was a large increase of female scholars after this. In the 15th century, Al-Sakhawi devotes an entire volume of his 12-volume biographical dictionary Daw al-lami to female scholars, giving information on 1,075 of them.[31]
Recently there has been several female Muslim scholars including Sebeca Zahra Hussain who is a prominent female scholar from the Sunni sect.
Female employment
The labor force in the Caliphate were employed from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, while both men and women were involved in diverse occupations and economic activities.[32] Women were employed in a wide range of commercial activities and diverse occupations[33]in the primary sector (as farmers, for example), secondary sector (as construction workers, dyers, spinners, etc.) and tertiary sector (asinvestors, doctors, nurses, presidents of guilds, brokers, peddlers, lenders, scholars, etc.).[34] Muslim women also held a monopoly over certain branches of the textile industry,[33] the largest and most specialized and market-oriented industry at the time, in occupations such asspinning, dyeing, and embroidery. In comparison, female property rights and wage labour were relatively uncommon in Europe until theIndustrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.[35]
In the 12th century, the famous Islamic philosopher and qadi (judge) Ibn Rushd, known to the West as Averroes, claimed that women were equal to men in all respects and possessed equal capacities to shine in peace and in war, citing examples of female warriors among theArabs, Greeks and Africans to support his case.[36] In early Muslim history, examples of notable female Muslims who fought during theMuslim conquests and Fitna (civil wars) as soldiers or generals included Nusaybah Bint k’ab Al Maziniyyah[37] a.k.a. Umm Amarah, Aisha,[38] Kahula and Wafeira.[39]
A unique feature of medieval Muslim hospitals was the role of female staff, who were rarely employed in hospitals elsewhere in the world. Medieval Muslim hospitals commonly employed female nurses. Muslim hospitals were also the first to employ female physicians, the most famous being two female physicians from the Banu Zuhr family who served the Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Mansur in the 12th century.[40] This was necessary due to the segregation between male and female patients in Islamic hospitals. Later in the 15th century, female surgeons were illustrated for the first time in Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu‘s Cerrahiyyetu’l-Haniyye (Imperial Surgery).[41]
Marriage and divorce
Girl with headcovering.
In contrast to the Western world where divorce was relatively uncommon until modern times, and in contrast to the low rates of divorce in the modern Middle East, divorce was a more common occurrence in certain states of the late medieval Muslim world. In the Mamluk Sultanate and Ottoman Empire, the rate of divorce was higher than it is today in the modern Middle East.[42]
In medieval Egypt, Al-Sakhawi recorded the marital history of 500 women, the largest sample of married women in the Middle Ages, and found that at least a third of all women in the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria married more than once, with many marrying three or more times. According to Al-Sakhawi, as many as three out of ten marriages in 15th century Cairo ended in divorce.[43] In the early 20th century, some villages in western Java and the Malay peninsula had divorce rates as high as 70%.[42]
Gender roles
The Quran expresses two main views on the role of women. It both stresses the equality of women and men before God in terms of their religious duties (i.e. belief in God and his messenger, praying, fasting, paying zakat (charity), making hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca/ Medina)) and places them “under” the care of men (i.e. men are financially responsible for their wives). In one place it states: “Men are the maintainers and protectors of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women).” The Quran explains that men and women are equal in creation and in the afterlife. Surah an-Nisa’ 4:1 states that men and women are created from a single soul (nafs wahidah). One person does not come before the other, one is not superior to the other, and one is not the derivative of the other. A woman is not created for the purpose of a man. Rather, they are both created for the mutual benefit of each other.[Qur’an 4:34]
Rape
The majority of Muslim scholars believe that a woman should not be punished for having been coerced into having sex.[62] According to aSunni hadith, the punishment for committing rape is death, there is no blame attached to the victim.[63][64]
Honor killings
An honour killing[65] (also called a customary killing) is the murder of a family or clan member by one or more fellow (mostly male) family members, in which the perpetrators (and potentially the wider community) believe the victim to have brought dishonour upon the family, clan, or community. The Qur’an does not mention honor killings, and honor killings are a cultural practice which is neither exclusive to, nor universal within, the Islamic world.
Who may be married?
Marriage customs vary in Muslim dominated countries. Cultural customs are sometimes implemented under the cover of Islam. However Islamic law allows polygamy under some conditions.
According to Islamic law (sharia), marriage cannot be forced.[46][66
Behaviour within marriage
The Qur’an considers the love between men and women to be a Sign of God.[Qur’an 30:21] Husbands are asked to be kind to their wives and wives are asked to be kind to their husbands. The Qur’an also encourages discussion and mutual agreement in family decisions.[46]
Muslim scholars have adopted differing interpretations of An-Nisa, 34, a Sura of the Qur’an. In the event where a woman rebels against her husband, Muslim scholars disagree on what is prescribed by the Sura. According to some interpretations, it is permissible for the man to then lightly beat his spouse. However, this is disputed by many scholars who contend that the expression used alludes to temporary physical separation.[73]
Sexuality
Some hold that Islam enjoins sexual pleasure within marriage; see Asra Nomani‘s polemic “Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Bedroom”. Some examples of this influence are set out below.
Qur’an 4:24— Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess: Thus hath Allah ordained (Prohibitions) against you: Except for these, all others are lawful, provided ye seek (them in marriage) with gifts from your property,- desiring chastity, not lust, seeing that ye derive benefit from them, give them their dowers (at least) as prescribed; but if, after a dower is prescribed, agree Mutually (to vary it), there is no blame on you, and Allah is All-knowing, All-wise.
Qur’an 23:1-6—The Believers must (eventually) win through—those who humble themselves in their prayers; who avoid vain talk; who are active in deeds of charity; who abstain from sex; 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.
Qur’an 33:50—O Prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee . . .
Qur’an 70:22-30—Not so those devoted to Prayer—those who remain steadfast to their prayer; and those in whose wealth is a recognized right for the (needy) who asks and him who is prevented (for some reason from asking); and those who hold to the truth of the Day of Judgement; and those who fear the displeasure of their Lord—for their Lord’s displeasure is the opposite of Peace and Tranquillity—and those who guard their chastity, except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess—for (then) they are not to be blamed.
A high value is placed on female chastity (not to be confused with celibacy). To protect women from accusations of unchaste behaviour, the scripture lays down severe punishments towards those who make false allegations about a woman’s chastity. However, in some societies, an accusation is rarely questioned and the woman who is accused rarely has a chance to defend herself in a fair and just manner. This is often due to the local cultural customs rather than as a direct result of classic Islamic teaching.
Female genital cutting has been erroneously associated with Islam, but in fact is practiced predominantly in Africa and in certain areas has acquired a religious dimension[74] The factuality of this is disputed though, as a UNICEF study of fourteen African countries found no correlation between religion and prevalence of female genital mutilation.[75] In Mauritania, where “health campaigners estimate that more than 70 percent of Mauritanian girls undergo the partial or total removal of their external genitalia for non-medical reasons”, 34 Islamic scholars signed a fatwa banning the practice in January 2010. Their aim was to prevent people from citing religion as a justification for genital mutilation. The authors cited the work of Islamic legal expert Ibn al-Hajj as support for their assertion that “[s]uch practices were not present in the Maghreb countries over the past centuries”. FGM is “not an instinctive habit, according to the Malkis; therefore, it was abandoned in northern and western regions of the country,” added the authors.[76][77]
Divorce
In Islam, in some circumstances, a woman can initiate a divorce. According to Sharia Law, a woman can file a case in the courts for a divorce in a process called “Khal’a”, meaning “Break up”. However, under most Islamic schools of jurisprudence, both partners must unanimously agree to the divorce in order for it to be granted. To prevent irrational decisions and for the sake of the family’s stability, Islam enjoins that both parties observe a waiting period (of roughly three months) before the divorce is finalised.[78]
Sharia Law states that divorce has to be confirmed on three separate occasions and not, as is commonly believed, simply three times at once. The first two instances the woman and the man are still in legal marriage. The third occasion of pronouncing divorce in the presence of the woman, the man is no longer legally the husband and therefore has to leave the house. The purpose of this procedure of divorce in Islam is to encourage reconciliation where possible. Even after divorce, the woman should wait three monthly cycles during which her husband remains responsible for her and her children’s welfare and maintenance. He is not permitted to drive her out of the house.[79] This process may leave the woman destitute should her family not take her back or the ex-husband fail to support her and possibly his children.
After the third pronouncement they are not allowed to get back together as husband and wife, unless first the wife is divorced in another lawful and fully consummated marriage. This rule was made to discourage men from easily using the verbal declaration of divorce by knowing that after the third time there will be no way to return to the wife and thus encourage men’s tolerance and patience.
Usually, assuming her husband demands a divorce, the divorced wife keeps her mahr (dowry), both the original gift and any supplementary property specified in the marriage contract. She is also given child support until the age of weaning, at which point the child’s custody will be settled by the couple or by the courts.
In actual practice and outside of Islamic judicial theory, a woman’s right to divorce is often extremely limited compared with that of men in theMiddle East.[80] While men can divorce their wives easily, women face many legal and financial obstacles. In practice in most of the Muslim world today divorce can be quite involved as there may be separate secular procedures to follow as well.
This contentious area of religious practice and tradition is being increasingly challenged by those promoting more liberal interpretations of Islam.
Dress code
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Hijab is the Qur’anic requirement that Muslims, both male and female, dress and behave modestly. The most important Qur’anic verse relating to hijab is sura 24:31, which says, “And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their private parts and not to display their adornment except that which ordinarily appears thereof and to draw their headcovers over their chests and not to display their adornment except to their [maharim]…”
Sartorial hijab, and the veil in particular, have often been viewed by many as a sign of oppression of Muslim women.[88] It has also been the cause of much debate, especially in Europe amid increasing immigration of Muslims;[89] the 2006 United Kingdom debate over veils and the 2004 French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools are two notable examples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Islam#Female_education