6,633
edits
Islam and Women: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
| [checked revision] | [checked revision] |
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{QualityScore|Lead= | {{QualityScore|Lead=2|Structure=2|Content=2|Language=3|References=3}} | ||
Islamic scriptures generally employ the masculine pronoun in Arabic, which is used to refer to both men and women. On occasion, the scriptures diverge from this standard, inclusive usage, and comment specifically on men or women. The perspective taken by Islamic scriptures on women is of special interest in recent times due to frequent collision with modern values. | |||
Women are legally disadvantaged by Islamic law in several in several domains of life. Particularly, women are disadvantaged in matters of sexual, domestic, legal, financial, sartorial, and physical autonomy. According to Islamic legal theory, while not all of Islamic law necessarily has a perceptibly rational basis, legal restrictions on women may be due to their supposed intellectual deficiency, which was pronounced by Muhammad according to Sahih Bukhari. | |||
It should also be noted that whereas the patriarchal arrangements of early Islamic society hardly deserve indictment, given their historical situation and the fact that they were in a limited sense an improvement upon pre-Islamic gender norms, the same can, perhaps, not be said about the perpetual enshrinement of those patriarchal norms - however much an improvement in 7th century Arabia - as took place in the ideas of Islamic law that finally emerged. | |||
==Primary Articles== | ==Primary Articles== | ||
| Line 95: | Line 94: | ||
===Domestic Violence Against Women in Islam=== | ===Domestic Violence Against Women in Islam=== | ||
{{Main|Wife Beating in | {{Main|Wife Beating in Islamic Law|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Wife Beating}} | ||
Wife-beating in the Muslim world comes from the teachings of Islamic religious texts such as the Quran and the Hadiths. It has been an accepted part of Islam since its inception. Muhammad himself made attempts to limit the degree of violence, yet nevertheless declared "A man should not be asked why he beats his wife."<ref>{{Ibn Majah||3|9|1986}} (graded Hasan)</ref> and according to Aisha, "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!"<ref>"...''so when Allah's Apostle came, 'Aisha said, "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!"...''" - {{Bukhari|7|72|715}}</ref> Domestic violence has been used as a tool to maintain control and dominance over Muslim women, this has created an intensely patriarchal society where men rule women and women must submit to men. This article explores how wife-beating is authorized by the Qur'an and Hadiths along with commentary from Muslim scholars, statistics on wife beating in the Muslim world and common apologetic arguments made by Muslims and responses to them. | Wife-beating in the Muslim world comes from the teachings of Islamic religious texts such as the Quran and the Hadiths. It has been an accepted part of Islam since its inception. Muhammad himself made attempts to limit the degree of violence, yet nevertheless declared "A man should not be asked why he beats his wife."<ref>{{Ibn Majah||3|9|1986}} (graded Hasan)</ref> and according to Aisha, "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!"<ref>"...''so when Allah's Apostle came, 'Aisha said, "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!"...''" - {{Bukhari|7|72|715}}</ref> Domestic violence has been used as a tool to maintain control and dominance over Muslim women, this has created an intensely patriarchal society where men rule women and women must submit to men. This article explores how wife-beating is authorized by the Qur'an and Hadiths along with commentary from Muslim scholars, statistics on wife beating in the Muslim world and common apologetic arguments made by Muslims and responses to them. | ||
| Line 132: | Line 131: | ||
===Honor Violence and Islam=== | ===Honor Violence and Islam=== | ||
{{Main| | {{Main|Honor Violence}} | ||
Honor Related Violence is physical violence that is inflicted on an individual by perpetrators who believe the victim has brought dishonor upon the family, clan, or community by engaging in any conduct that is perceived as immoral or unacceptable by religious or social/cultural standards. This violence almost always happens in Muslim families. | Honor Related Violence is physical violence that is inflicted on an individual by perpetrators who believe the victim has brought dishonor upon the family, clan, or community by engaging in any conduct that is perceived as immoral or unacceptable by religious or social/cultural standards. This violence almost always happens in Muslim families. | ||
While not prescribed in Islam, Muslim women are killed by family members for many "honor" related reasons, including being raped, associating with non-related males, getting pregnant outside of marriage, refusing a forced marriage, and for the belief they might have done something else immoral. In the eyes of their family, death serves restore the family's honor. The entire family may all collaborate on this, and in some cases the whole community may participate and even celebrate the occasion. The generally controlling nature of Islam towards women, and the death penalty in Islam for some types of zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) are plausible indirect reasons for such extremely negative attitudes. | While not prescribed in Islam, Muslim women are killed by family members for many "honor" related reasons, including being raped, associating with non-related males, getting pregnant outside of marriage, refusing a forced marriage, and for the belief they might have done something else immoral. In the eyes of their family, death serves restore the family's honor. The entire family may all collaborate on this, and in some cases the whole community may participate and even celebrate the occasion. The generally controlling nature of Islam towards women, and the death penalty in Islam for some types of zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) are plausible indirect reasons for such extremely negative attitudes towards women. | ||
While honor violence is not explicitly endorsed in Islamic law, it often appears where Islamic law is implemented. Certain Islamic punishments such as stoning, flogging, and even death by being thrown off a tall building are prescribed for sexual crimes. While these punishment are not justified as 'recovering honor' as such, it is not difficult to see how a culture can make that connection and then implement the violence prescribed through other, extralegal means. | |||
===Polygamy in Islam=== | ===Polygamy in Islam=== | ||
:''Main Article: [[Polygamy | :''Main Article: [[Polygamy in Islam]]'' | ||
Muhammad was a polygamist, and Islam allows a man to marry up to four wives at any one time: | Muhammad was a polygamist, and Islam allows a man to marry up to four wives at any one time: | ||
| Line 231: | Line 232: | ||
====Mariyah==== | ====Mariyah==== | ||
''Mariyah the Copt'' was one of the prophet’s wives’ maids. Muhammad slept with her without any ceremony, which caused uproar among his wives and finally was settled by divine intervention. | |||
''Mariyah the Copt'' was one of the prophet’s wives’ maids. Muhammad slept with her without any ceremony, which caused uproar among his wives and finally was settled by | |||
{{Quote||Waqidi has informed us that Abu Bakr has narrated that the messenger of Allah (PBUH) had sexual intercourse with Mariyyah in the house of Hafsah. When the messenger came out of the house, Hafsa was sitting at the gate (behind the locked door). She told the prophet, O Messenger of Allah, do you do this in my house and during my turn? The messenger said, control yourself and let me go because I make her haram to me. Hafsa said, I do not accept, unless you swear for me. That Hazrat (his holiness) said, by Allah I will not contact her again. Qasim ibn Muhammad has said that this promise of the Prophet that had forbidden Mariyyah to himself is invalid – it does not become a violation (hormat).<ref>Tabaqat v. 8 p. 223 Publisher Entesharat-e Farhang va Andisheh Tehran 1382 solar h ( 2003) Translator Dr. Mohammad Mahdavi Damghani</ref>}} | {{Quote||Waqidi has informed us that Abu Bakr has narrated that the messenger of Allah (PBUH) had sexual intercourse with Mariyyah in the house of Hafsah. When the messenger came out of the house, Hafsa was sitting at the gate (behind the locked door). She told the prophet, O Messenger of Allah, do you do this in my house and during my turn? The messenger said, control yourself and let me go because I make her haram to me. Hafsa said, I do not accept, unless you swear for me. That Hazrat (his holiness) said, by Allah I will not contact her again. Qasim ibn Muhammad has said that this promise of the Prophet that had forbidden Mariyyah to himself is invalid – it does not become a violation (hormat).<ref>Tabaqat v. 8 p. 223 Publisher Entesharat-e Farhang va Andisheh Tehran 1382 solar h ( 2003) Translator Dr. Mohammad Mahdavi Damghani</ref>}} | ||