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

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Still others have, in recent times, suggested that the hadiths about women's mental deficiency, religious deficiency, and majority share in Hell be read sarcastically or satirically. The idea here, it appears, is that Muhammad, being very familiar with the women in his community, would have understood that in saying what he did, he would not be taken seriously. While sarcasm can be infamously challenging to detect in historical texts, particularly where cultural mores and expectations have changed dramatically with time, there is little in the relevant portions of scripture to suggest Muhammad was being anything but serious in his statements. Traditionalists are incensed by the insinuation that Muhammad could have been making light of such a theologically important matter as the inhabitants of hell or that he could have cited the Quran and Sharia to buttress what was only meant as a joke. Non-Muslim participants in this discussion have found this argument similarly incredible.  
Still others have, in recent times, suggested that the hadiths about women's mental deficiency, religious deficiency, and majority share in Hell be read sarcastically or satirically. The idea here, it appears, is that Muhammad, being very familiar with the women in his community, would have understood that in saying what he did, he would not be taken seriously. While sarcasm can be infamously challenging to detect in historical texts, particularly where cultural mores and expectations have changed dramatically with time, there is little in the relevant portions of scripture to suggest Muhammad was being anything but serious in his statements. Traditionalists are incensed by the insinuation that Muhammad could have been making light of such a theologically important matter as the inhabitants of hell or that he could have cited the Quran and Sharia to buttress what was only meant as a joke. Non-Muslim participants in this discussion have found this argument similarly incredible.  


=== Reinterpreting Quran 43:18 ===
===Reinterpreting Quran 43:18===
Some modern Muslim scholars have shifted to interpreting {{Quran|43|18}} as a simple description of pagan attitudes towards women rather than an affirmation of those attitudes.<ref>{{Citation|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518193855/http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=10&ID=12885&CATE=88|url=http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=10&ID=12885&CATE=88|title=Tafseer Quran 43:18: does this verse view women negatively?|author=Shaykh Sohail Hanif|publisher=SunniPath}}</ref> However, the following verse ({{Quran|43|19}}) uses the same interrogative and exclamatory device found earlier in the passage -- a statement of what the pagans believed followed by an ''alif'' (translated "What!") -- and then Allah's rebuttal ("did they witness their creation?") which expresses incredulity and outrage. Thus it seems more likely that in {{Quran|43|18}} Allah is making what he thinks is a factual counter-argument (i.e. that women are frivolous and unintelligent) to contradict the pagan belief in the daughters of Allah.
Some modern Muslim scholars have shifted to interpreting {{Quran|43|18}} as a simple description of pagan attitudes towards women rather than an affirmation of those attitudes.<ref>{{Citation|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518193855/http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=10&ID=12885&CATE=88|url=http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=10&ID=12885&CATE=88|title=Tafseer Quran 43:18: does this verse view women negatively?|author=Shaykh Sohail Hanif|publisher=SunniPath}}</ref> However, the following verse ({{Quran|43|19}}) uses the same interrogative and exclamatory device found earlier in the passage -- a statement of what the pagans believed followed by an ''alif'' (translated "What!") -- and then Allah's rebuttal ("did they witness their creation?") which expresses incredulity and outrage. Thus it seems more likely that in {{Quran|43|18}} Allah is making what he thinks is a factual counter-argument (i.e. that women are frivolous and unintelligent) to contradict the pagan belief in the daughters of Allah.
 
==See also==
==Conclusion==
 
The meaning of these ahadith is very clear. Prophet Muhammad "blanketed" a statement over every single woman who has ever and will ever live. Despite many creative ways to explain away the meaning and implications of these ahadith, the actual evidence cannot be denied. Muhammad clearly said that women are deficient in intelligence because, in Islam, the value of their testimony is equal to that of half a man. If the Qur'an is a book for all people for all time, then that mandate stands; thus Muhammad was referring to all women in general; and not just a specific group of women.
 
===Further thoughts on these ahadith===
 
This set of hadiths clearly show Muhammad's desire to control and make women subservient to him. Look at the three reasons that Muhammad lists for women being in Allah's Hell:
 
1. Deficient in Intelligence: The Qur'an was 'revealed' by Muhammad on behalf of his imaginary deity, Allah; thus Muhammad himself made the requirement that the testimony of two women is equal to a man. He then goes on to tell women that they will most likely end up in hell; because their intellectual deficiency, which he defined and imposed 'safeguards' against. No evidence; just "I said so!" What better way to belittle women than to continually remind them that they are 'stupid'.
 
2. Deficient in Religion: Again, Muhammad himself 'revealed' the entirety of Islam; its rules, regulations and requirements, rewards etc.. What better way to keep women down? Tell them your works-based religion, that they cannot perform any of these good works (praying, fasting etc..) when they are menstruating. This keeps them in a state of fear, because they have to make up for the days they were unable to be 'pious'; making them more submissive to Islam then men.  Then you get Muhammad who comes along, after making this silly rule about menstruation; and tells women that most of them will end up in hell because of it. In essence, he's saying that in ''his'' religion, women will end up in hell simply for being born female.
 
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.
==See Also==
{{Hub4|Creation|Creation}}
{{Hub4|Creation|Creation}}


{{Translation-links-english|[[Недостиг на интелигентност при жените|Bulgarian]], [[ La deficienza dintelligenza delle donne|Italian]]}}
==External links==
 
==External Links==


*[http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1930.htm Muslim Cleric Presents "Scientific" Proof that Women Cannot Talk and Remember Simultaneously (video)]
*[http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1930.htm Muslim Cleric Presents "Scientific" Proof that Women Cannot Talk and Remember Simultaneously] (MEMRI video featuring Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani)
*[http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35888 Quran 2:282, Why does Allah mandate this Requirement?] - ''FFI Forum discussion with a Muslim regarding why two women are required to give testimony in the absence of one Man. "Just a Woman" (the Muslim) continually tries to separate the ahadith from the Qur'an verse in order to 'explain' them separately''


==References==
==References==
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