Women's Intelligence and the Islamic Tradition: Difference between revisions

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." }}

=== Qur'an evidence ===

'''Shakir:''' O you who believe! when you deal with each other in contracting a debt for a fixed time, then write it down; and let a scribe write it down between you with fairness; and the scribe should not refuse to write as Allah has taught him, so he should write; and let him who owes the debt dictate, and he should be careful of (his duty to) Allah, his Lord, and not diminish anything from it; but if he who owes the debt is unsound in understanding, or weak, or (if) he is not able to dictate himself, let his guardian dictate with fairness; and call in to witness from among your men two witnesses; '''but if there are not two men, then one man and two women from among those whom you choose to be witnesses, so that if one of the two errs, the second of the two may remind the other'''; and the witnesses should not refuse when they are summoned; and be not averse to writing it (whether it is) small or large, with the time of its falling due; this is more equitable in the sight of Allah and assures greater accuracy in testimony, and the nearest (way) that you may not entertain doubts (afterwards), except when it is ready merchandise which you give and take among yourselves from hand to hand, then there is no blame on you in not writing it down; and have witnesses when you barter with one another, and let no harm be done to the scribe or to the witness; and if you do (it) then surely it will be a transgression in you, and be careful of (your duty) to Allah, Allah teaches you, and Allah knows all things}}

=== Muhammad was referring to that specific group of women only ===

Rasha then shoots herself in the foot by proving in one short sentence that Muhammad ''was'' wrong; she herself knows that women are not stupid; that they are equal to, or excel men in many fields. But, in order to remain under the influence of someone who called her 'deficient' , she must use current knowledge in order to 'spin' Muhammad's words. In essence, when she says "That argument is a failure" she is acknowledging that Muhammad was completely wrong to make such a claim.

=== Muhammad was using hyperbole to scare women into giving alms ===

Muhammad also knew that Hellfire was a great motivator to his followers; once he found a threat that worked, he milked it for all it was worth. Because of the discrepancies between the two sets of narrations, we can conclude that the two  sets of narrations are from separate events; and that Muhammad simply re-used a scare tactic in order to get what he wanted.  

=== Deficiency is only about giving  financial testimony ===

Muhammad also backs up these "jokes" with reference to the Qur'an, which he'd obviously take very seriously as the alleged prophet.

===Al-Tabari's Tarikh===

It should be noted that some modern Muslim scholars interpret 43:18 as a reference to female pagan idols or that Allah is still referring to the attitude of the pagans towards women.<ref>[http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=10&ID=12885&CATE=88 Tafseer Quran 43:18: does this verse view women negatively?]</ref> However, the next verse (43:19) uses the same pattern - a statement of what the pagans believed followed by an interrogative alif (translated "What!") and then Allah's rebuttal ("did they witness their creation?"). Thus it seems more likely that in 43:18 Allah is making what he thinks is a factual counter-argument rather than using what he believes is another false notion of the pagans to contradict their belief in daughters of Allah.

== Conclusion ==

3. Ungrateful to their Husbands: Again, Muhammad wanted his wives; and all Muslim women within his reach (in case he wanted to marry them) to be as submissive to their husbands as possible. He scares them with threats of hellfire to make them more submissive, and fearful of Allah; thereby keeping women under the thumb of their husbands.  

As a result, to this day, Muslim women, and women in general, are thought of by Muslims as intellectually inferior to themselves. Perhaps this is why Muslim women especially are trying to twist the meaning of these ahadith and narrow down the testimony requirement in Quran 2:282; its either that or admit Muhammad was wrong.

{{Core Women}}