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

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The [[Islam|Islamic]] tradition from the [[Hadith]] and later material agrees on the general supposition that women are inferior in intelligence vis-a-vis men. That all [[Islam and Women|women]] are [[Creation|created]] less intelligent than their male counterparts is used as an explanation for several Islamic doctrines and rules of jurisprudence, including the belief that women make up the majority of the denizens of [[Jahannam (Hell)|Hell]] and the lower value of a woman's testimony against a man's in Islamic [[Shari'ah (Islamic Law)|Shari'ah]] courts.  

According to the Hadith, the Prophet [[Muhammad|Muhammad's]] once declared that the majority of the inhabitants of [[Hell]] are women.<ref>{{Bukhari|1|6|301}}</ref> When asked why, he said it was because they are deficient in intelligence and religion, and because they are ungrateful to their husbands. The Hadith clearly presents Muhammad's belief as being that ''all'' women are less intelligent than their male counterparts; the traditional Islamic view is that this deficiency was not mitigated or qualified in any way be the prophet.

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.