women in christianity & islam

8/7/2019 Women in Christianity & Islam

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in the name of god, the beneficent, the merciful

women in christianity and islam

salamu alaikum,

one of the primary misconceptions among non-muslims is women in islam areoppressed and subjugated. often ayaat [verses] are taken out of their qur'aniccontext giving rise to common allegations such as in islam, women are consideredinfirior to men. that islam allows the beating of woman. it degrades the her byforcing her to cover up. a woman only gets half the inheritance compared to aman. two female witnesses equal one male witness and so on. generally, thepeople who are making these claims are christians. so the purpose of this articleis not only to refute false criticism but also, to raise a few concerns aboutchristianity (insha-allah).

equality

we read in the qur'an, considered by muslims to be a divine revelation of god;'and their lord hath accepted of them, and answered them: "never will i suffer tobe lost the work of any of you, be he male or female: ye are members, one ofanother: those who have left their homes, or been driven out therefrom, orsuffered harm in my cause, or fought or been slain,- verily, i will blot out fromthem their iniquities, and admit them into gardens with rivers flowingbeneath;- a reward from the presence of allah, and from his presence is the bestof rewards.'[al-qur'an 3:195].

another ayah[verse] reads;

'he that works evil will not be requited but by the like thereof: and he that worksa righteous deed - whether man or woman - and is a believer- such will enterthe garden (of bliss): therein will they have abundance without measure.'[al-qur'an 40:40]. a similar messages are repeated in;[al-qur'an 16:97], [33:35],[57:12,18].

we clearly see in the qur'an that both man and woman are indeed equal in thesight of god. the criteria for superiority is not sex(male or female) but ratherrighteous deeds and piety. neither has any authority over the other though manhas a greater responsibility in looking after the women.[1] the qur'an describesman and woman as 'garments of each other' [2], both are assistants andprotectors of each other. the qur'an also describes both man and woman as ofsimilar nature.[3]

in the christian bible however we see in the words of st.paul how women isconsidered infirior to men; [1tim 2:12] "i permit no woman to teach or to haveauthority over men."[1co 11:3] 'but i want you to understand that the head ofevery man is christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of christ


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is god.'in islam no man has any authority over their female counterparts, thequr'an states; 'o ye who believe! ye are forbidden to inherit women against theirwill'[al-qur'an 4:19] so women have a free will and aren't under men as the biblestates.

the bible also states;"i find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare,whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. the man who pleases godwill escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare....while i was still searching butnot finding, i found one upright man among a thousand but not one uprightwoman among them all"[ecc 7:26-28].

the qur'an never makes such a claim instead in islam we have several examples ofgreat and righteous women. the qur'an relates to two of them in the followingayaat; 'and allah sets forth, as an example to those who believe the wife ofpharaoh: behold she said: "o my lord! build for me, in nearness to thee, amansion in the garden, and save me from pharaoh and his doings, and save mefrom those that do wrong"; and mary the daughter of 'imran, who guarded herchastity; and we breathed into (her body) of our spirit; and she testified to thetruth of the words of her lord and of his revelations, and was one of the devout(servants).'[al-qur'an 66:11-12].

the biblical notions that "the birth of a daughter is a loss"[4] and statementssuch as; "keep a headstrong daughter under firm control, or she will abuse anyindulgence she receives. keep a strict watch on her shameless eye, do not besurprised if she disgraces you"[5] are repeatedly condemned in the qur'an. itdescribes how people felt sorrow at the birth of a female child;'with shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad

news(female child) he has had! shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt,or bury it in the dust? ah! what an evil (choice) they decide on?'[al-qur'an16:59].

in pre-islamic arabia female infanticide was very common, the qur'an put a halton this evil practice; 'when the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned - forwhat crime she was killed?'[al-qur'an 81:8-9]. allah[god] further ordains; 'killnot your children for fear of want: we shall provide sustenance for them as wellas for you. verily the killing of them is a great sin.'[al-qur'an 17:31].

moreover the prophet muhammad[p] said "anyone who up brings 2 daughtersproperly and takes good care and brings them up with love and affection, theywill enter paradise"[ahmad].

'hijab'

its claimed that islam degrades the women by hiding her behind ahijab[covering].


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it is true that 'hijab' has been perscribed upon who every believing women [al-qur'an 24:31]. an ayah prior, the qur'an talks about the 'hijab' for men; 'say [omuhammad] to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guardtheir modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and allah is well

acquainted with all that they do'[al-qur'an 24:30]. the reason for women's hijabis also given in the qur'an; 'o prophet! tell thy wives and daughters, and thebelieving women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons(when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such)and not molested. and allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful'[6] thus the purposeof hijab is not to degrade anyone. it is a sign of modesty for both man and awoman. to a muslim it sounds strange that people take the hijab as a sign ofoppression when its clearly stated in the glorious qur'an that hijab preventswomen from being molested. it is there to protect women from strange men whomay carry a disease in their hearts. muslims wonder, 'where do people get thisidea of subjugation?'

when we look into the christian bible we fined the roots for this notion. st.paulsays in;[1co 11:7-10] 'for a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image andglory of god; but woman is the glory of man [8] (for man was not made fromwoman, but woman from man [9] neither was man created for woman, butwoman for man) [10] that is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head,because of the angels.'man need not cover his head since he is the image of godwhereas the woman is the image of man so she should cover her head as a sign ofher submission to man.

[1ti 2:9] "also that women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in

seemly apparel, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire."st.paultalks about how women should be dressed up modestly. he also emphasises howwomen should not wear costly clothing. a few verses later st.paul gives hisreasons; "let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness [12] i permit nowoman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent[13] foradam was formed first, then eve; [14] and adam was not deceived, but thewoman was deceived and became a transgressor[15] yet woman will be savedthrough bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness,withmodesty"[1ti 2:11-15].

so there we have a pauline definition of modesty for the women. being a modest

woman in christianity means to be in total submission to man. if women are notmodest[submissive to men], they shall not be saved. this is contrary to modestyin islam. modesty in islam means humbleness and simplicity, not just for womenbut also for men. [7] in islam men and women are told to dress modestly notbecause either are being degraded but rather they may learn submission to godalone and not become arrogant. so the idea of woman's submission to man doesnot come from the qur'an at all but rather the christian bible.


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inheritance

it is true that in most cases women only inherit half the amount compared totheir men [8] but is that really unjust? a female in islam does not have to worryabout the financial aspects. she need not work for a living because that obligation

is on the man. thus even though the male is getting double the amount comparedto the female, he ends up spending almost all of it on the female. by this method,women und up inheriting more than men.

what do or do women inherit anything in christianity? we read in the christianbible:"and you shall say to the people of israel, 'if a man dies, and has no son,then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter"[num 27:8].

in other words, if there is no son, the daughter shall have nothing. only if there isno son does the daughter ineherit. moreover, in [num 36:6], the daughter whoinherits by this method is then forced to marry within her tribe. she cannot marryoutside that tribe because the money she has inherited must remain in that tribe.

the last prophet of islam, prophet muhamamd[p] forbade forcing women intodisliked marriages; 'my father married me to his nephew and i did not like thismatch, so i complained to the messenger of allah. he said to me: "accept whatyour father has arranged." i said, i do not wish to accept what my father hasarranged. he said, "then this marriage is invalid, go and marry whomever youwish." i said, i have accepted what my father has arranged but i wanted womento know that fathers have no right in their daughters matters (i.e. they have noright to force a marriage on them). [9]

uncleanliness

in the book of leviticus it is mentioned that the period of menses is 'unclean' andthat period of uncleanliness is doubled when she gives birth to a fermale child ascompared to a male [lev 12:2-5]. no such notions exists in islam and both maleand female children are equal in the sight of allah[a] 'to allah[god] belongs thedominion of the heavens and the earth. he creates what he wills. he bestowsfemale children to whomever he wills and bestows male children to whomeverhe wills'[al-qur'an 42:49]. and futher in the same book of leviticus, anyone whotouches a menstruating woman shall be unclean till the evening [lev 15:19] whichis not necessary according to islam. a women during menses is not un-touchablenor contagious but caries on her daily life. narated by aisha[r] the wife of the

prophet[p]; "while in menses, i used to comb the hair of allah's apostle."[10]"the prophet used to lean on my lap and recite qur'an while i was in menses."[11]

rape

in case of a man raping an un-married girl, we read in the bible; [deu 22:28-29]"if a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her,


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and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of theyoung woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hasviolated her; he may not put her away all his days."

what we can say in light of the above passage is that a man raping a virgin girl is

not much of a sin at all. true the man has to pay some pieces of silver to the girl'sfather and has to marry her but is this punishment suffice? surely no womenwould like to marry the person who raped her and after that she cannot divorcehim since according to the jewish law, it is the husband alone who has thatauthority. moreover, instead of punishing the rapist, you are rewarding him, theman goes and rapes a virgin of his liking, pays 50 shekels and has her inmarriage.

in the religion of islam however, the rapist does not go scot free just by paying asum of money instead, the punishent for a rapist can be a capital one[death].neither is the lady forced to marry the rapist, infact in islam, such a person is notfit to marry a chaste woman. the qur'an prohibits such marriages in the followingayah;

'women impure are for men impure, and men impure for women impure andwomen of purity are for men of purity, and men of purity are for women ofpurity: these are not affected by what people say: for them there is forgiveness,and a provision honourable.'[al-qur'an 24:26]

witnesses:

many critics of islam claim that the witness of a woman in islam is only worthhalf of the man and they quote; [al-qur'an 2:282], thus they feel islam degrades

the status of women.

however, this is not accually true. yes in certian cases like dealing with thefinancial aspects, a male witness does equal two female witnesses but as a whole,woman witness equals that of the man. infact according to the qur'an, a womanwitness can even cancel the witness of a man;'and for those who launch a charge against their spouses, and have (in support)no evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence (can be received) if they bearwitness four times (with an oath) by allah that they are solemnly telling thetruth; and the fifth (oath) (should be) that they solemnly invoke the curse ofallah on themselves if they tell a lie. but it would avert the punishment from the

wife, if she bears witness four times (with an oath) by allah, that (her husband)is telling a lie; and the fifth (oath) should be that she solemnly invokes the wrathof allah on herself if (her accuser) is telling the truth'[al-qur'an 24:6-9].

notice that if a man has no evidence agaisnt his wife, all she has to do is accuseher husband of not telling the truth. she does not have to give any apology orevidence for her innocence. not only this but if a woman is known to be chasteand a man accuses her but cannot produce four witnesses in support of his


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accusations then that guy recieves 80 lashes and his testimony should neveragain be accepted. [12]

in contrast we read in the christian bible [13] that if a husband feels jealous of hiswife or maybe is suspicious of her character, irrespective whether she is right or

wrong, he can take her to a high priest and put her through a bitter water test toprove her innocence. notice here the wife's witness is never asked for and she ispresumed guilty until she can be proven innocent which is contrary to islam aswe've seen above. but what if the husband was wrong in doubting her? as we'veread above, in islam if a man accuses a modest woman and does not produce fourwitnesses he is lashed 80 times. but in the bible the husband apparently goesscotfree; [num 5:31] "the man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shallbear her iniquity."in contrast the punishment for both man and woman is thesame in islam; [al-qur'an 2:178-179],[5:36],[24:2].

furthermore, we read in [num 30:5] that a father can change or cancel the vowsof his daughter: "but if her father expresses disapproval to her on the day thathe hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself, shallstand; and the lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her."

a husband also can change or nullify the vows of the wife. the husband has fullauthority over his wife's pledges; [num 30:8,12] "but if, on the day that herhusband comes to hear of it, he expresses disapproval, then he shall make voidher vow which was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips, by whichshe bound herself; and the lord will forgive her..."but if her husband makesthem null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds outof her lips concerning her vows, or concerning her pledge of herself, shall notstand: her husband has made them void, and the lord will forgive her."

still think it is islam which degrades women? its prescribed in the holy bible [14]what should happen when a man marries a woman but then accuses her of notbeing a non-virgin. once again the woman is considered guilty before she is evenproven guilty hence she has to come up with evidence for her innocence. but ofcourse her witness cannnot be accepted so her father should produce theevidence which is the garment from the wedding night. but what if the fatherunable to produce that garment? according to the bible, the lady is presumed anadultress and hence is stoned to death, astonishing!

beating

is it really true that islam allows violent beating of women? one particular ayah ofthe qur'an is often mis-quoted and presented as proof text [al-qur'an 4:34]. forthe context we may go back to ayah 19; 'o ye who believe! ye are forbidden toinherit women against their will. nor should ye treat them with harshness, thatye may take away part of the dower ye have given them,-except where theyhave been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footingofkindness and equity . if ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a


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thing, and allah brings about through it a great deal of good'[al-qur'an 4:19].

islam ordians muslims men to treate their women justly and with kindness exceptwhen they commit lewdness so when allah[s] mentions in ayah 34; 'men are theprotectors and maintainers of women, because allah has given the one more

(strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means.therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (thehusband's) absence what allah would have them guard. as to those women onwhose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next),refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return toobedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance): for allah is most high,great (above you all).'[al-qur'an 4:34].

he is refering to those wives who are disloyal, misbehaving and disrespectful totheir husbands and are causing a rift between their relationship. but even so, thehusband is not allowed to beat the hell out of her. first the husband is toadmonish his wife, then if things don't improve, shun her bed and see if thatbrings a change in her behaviour. even if that doesn't work and she is stilldisobedient and guilty of open lewdness then only does the husband have a rightto lightly beat[dharb] her. and the beating is not violent at all nor intented to hurtthe woman, it is allowed only as a form of correction, it has nothing to do withtorture. if the difficulties continue then both parties should appoint arbiters toresolve the issue. so all this efforts are to keep the marriage alive and fined someway of conciliation.

the bible however has an easier solution, the husbands are encouraged to divorcetheir disobedient wives: 'allow no outlet to water, and no boldness of speech inan evil wife. [26] if she does not go as you direct, separate her from yourself'[sir

25:25-26].

the prophet muhamamd[p] is the best interpreter of the qur'an and he reportedlysaid; 'fear allah regarding women, for they are your assistants. you have theright on them that they do not allow any person whom you dislike to step onyour mat. however, if they do that, you are allowed to discipline them lightly.they have a right on you that you provide them with their provision and clothes,in a reasonable manner'[sahih muslim]. but what if the wife is noble andrighteous, is her husband allowed to beat her? no, the husband does not have anyauthority to beat her or shun her bed or even admonish her.

orignal sin

the two religions have a contrasting views. as we've read above st.paul consideredwoman as the root cause for sin [1ti 2:14]. it is the woman who was decieved andsinned against god. not only by paul but throughout the christian bible the blaimis solely put on eve[p]. in the book of genesis we read: "the man said, "thewoman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and i ate"[gen 3:12]. thus god punishes the woman and the curse of pregnancy is inflicted


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upon her: "to the woman he said, "i will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.in pain you will bring forth children. your desire will be for your husband, andhe will rule over you"[gen 3:16].

a similar accusations against the woman are repeated in; [sirach 25:19,24]"no

wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman.....sin began witha woman and thanks to her we all must die."

we can clearly see how the fall of mankind is solely put on the shoulders of pooreve[p] and consequently all of us are born in sin. the islamic view on the otherhand is rather simple and rational. in islam there is no such thing as an orignalsin [15] and no where in the qur'an is the blaim solely put on eve[p]. infact thereis one passage where only adam[p] is addressed. [16] according to the qur'anicteachings, both adam and eve[p] disobeyed and both were forgiven by god. allahalmighty in his divine wisdom knows that humans are bound to err thus he isalways willing to forgive those who seek his forgiveness, read passages;[al-qur'an [2:38],[7:10-27],[20:122],[53:32],[91:8]. so sin in islam is not much ofa problem thus there is no need for any substitutionary sacrifice.

pregnancy

as we've read above, pregnancy is a punishment and a curse inflicted uponwomen for their dis-obedience [gen 3:16].

in islam pregnancy is not a curse or a punishment from god as seen inchristianity. instead, muslims see it as an immense sign of god's love and mercy.allah[s] commands the believer in the glorious qur'an; ' o mankind...(reverence)the wombs (that bore you)'[al-qur'an 4:1].

another ayah reads;

'and we have enjoined on humans (to be good) to his parents: in travail upontravail did his mother bear him, and in years twain was his weaning: (hear thecommand), "show gratitude to me and to thy parents: to me is (thy final) goal'[al-qur'an 31:14].

the same message is repeated in [al-qur'an 46:15].

and further the prophet muhammad[p] said; 'narated by abu huraira : a man

came to allah's apostle and said, "o allah's apostle! who is more entitled to betreated with the best companionship by me?" the prophet said, "your mother."the man said. "who is next?" the prophet said, "your mother." the man furthersaid, "who is next?" the prophet said, "your mother." the man asked for thefourth time, "who is next?" the prophet said, "your father."'[17] so in short, amother gets 75% of the love and companionship from her children, whereas, afather is only left with 25%. moreover the prophet[p] said; "paradise lies at thefeet of your mother"[sunan nisai, kital-ul-jihad, h.3106].


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paradise

according to the qur'an, muslims will have female companions in paradise [17]where, they'll also be joined with their families. every muslim man will have

atleast one wife [18] just as the first man adam[p] in the garden of eden. [19]

but strangly this idea is foreign to christianity where woman seemingly have nopart in paradise. we read in the last book of the new testament; [rev 14:1,4]"theni looked and there was the lamb standing on mount zion, and with him ahundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his father's namewritten on their foreheads... [4] these are they who were not defiled withwomen; they are virgins and these are the ones who follow the lambwherever he goes. they have been ransomed as the firstfruits of the human racefor god and the lamb."

now is "a hundred and forty-four thousand" the actual number of people that willgo to paradise or is it just symbolic? irrespective, the hundred and forty-fourthousand who'll enter paradise will only be men and only those men who did not'defile' themselves with women. in other words, men who didn't marry andremained virgins. and from all we can tell from the above passage, according tochristianity, woman won't make it to paradise.

in light of the above analysis we should unanimously conclude that women inislam are certainly not degraded nor are they considered infirior to men. theremight be some "muslim countries" which deprive the rights of the women but inlight of the qur'an and the sunnah, islam only uplidts them. and when wecompare the teachings of islam to the christian doctrines, there is a world of

difference. women in christianity are seen as the root of all evil, they areconsidered a burden and are deprived equal rights to men. we have seen in theold testament and the writings of st.paul how women have no authority overmen, they are oppressed and subjdugated. whereas islam after the advent of theprophet muhamamd[p] changed the bad image of women from being a sign ofthe devil and a temptress to a gateway of paradise.

man or woman, i recommend to you islam, the path leading straight to god,salamu alaikum!

"the whole world is a provision, and the best object of benefit of the

world is the pious woman"[20]

footnotes;

1. [al-qur'an 4:34]2. [al-qur'an 2:187]3. [al-qur'an 4:1]4. [sirach 22:3]


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5. [ecclesiasticus 26:10-11]6. [al-qur'an 33:59]7. [al-qur'an 24:30]8. [al-qur'an 4:11-12]9. [fath al-bari, 9/194, kitab al-nikah]

10. [sahih bukhari book.6, h.294]11. [sahih bukhari book.6, h.296]12. [al-qur'an 24:4]13. [num 5:11-31]14. [deuteronomy 22:13-21]15. [al-qur'an 2:48],[4:110],[6:54],[17:15,62],[30:44],[34:25], [35:18],[53:36-42],[sahih bukhari book.93, h.606]16. [al-qur'an 20:115]17. [al-qur'an 52:20-21],[55:56]18. [sahih muslim book.40, h.6793]19. [gen ch.2,3]20. [sahih muslim book.8, h.3465]

women in christianity & islam

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