Islamic Faith and Culture Essay

But, with every bad there must be a good and the Koran does have some excerpts from it that do protect women, this is apparent in the text on page 130 when it states, "If you wish to marry another wife, in place of your present wife, and you have given the latter a great deal, you shall not take back anything you had given her." This selection deals with polygamy, because Muslim men are allowed to take on more than one wife if they are able to provide for them; however the Koran states that the husband can not take anything back that he has given his previous wife. There are also some strange rules from Muslim Law that degrade women as well as some legends that add to the negative attitude towards women, The Hadith states, "To look at a woman is forbidden, even if it is a look without desire, so how much the more is touching her (130)." Also in The Hadith there is an account of Muhammad's viewing on hell, where the prophet states, "and I had a look into Hell and saw that most of its inhabitants were women (130)." With religious views such as this it is easy to see how there was a negative view towards women in Islamic culture.

The subordination of women in the Pre-Islamic Middle East was institutionalized by the rise of urban societies and city-states. Gerda Lerner, who put forth a compelling feminist theory regarding this early subordination of women, suggested that the theft of women for their reproductive abilities was necessary to increase the population and providing labor power for early societies. Male dominance and a patriarchal family, and subsequently, the steady decline of the status of women, was mirrored by the decline of goddesses and the rise to the supremacy of gods. Throughout the prominence of city states, male dominance was prevalent, and even codified in the laws (such as the Code Hammurabi). It was during this period that the practice of veiling women under the control of seignors were required to veil, while women of lower status were prohibited from the practice. Despite the status of women, the upper class women were able to own and manage property in their names and enter into contracts, until the Iranian conquest of Mesopotamia, when the status of women once again declined. The idea that purity and virginity in women was the ideal emerged through religious ideologies, and the vicious misogynistic culture of the Mediterranean and Christian societies preceding Islam had

Throughout centuries of human existence, women have been deemed as inferior to men in multiple different cultures and religions. Men have developed a norm to be the individual who carries out duties to help maintain a stable life for himself and the family in which he is providing for. Because of this fundamentalist approach towards how society should be, women’s rights have been suppressed throughout political, social, and cultural actions. The Islamic religion in particular, is fond of abusing the rights of women and empowering the rights of men in such a way that it has created a permanent existence of conflict within countries who follow Islam. In fact, in the Quran it states that women must have lesser authority than men, therefore their

Yet inequalities may not be the case for women in more westernized nations as they receive greater freedom (60). This is where the great diversity between modernist Muslim’s and conservative Muslim’s come in. Modernist Muslims argue genuine Islam is compatible with modern west society and political ideas such as democracy and the equality of women. The views of women in society are supported by revelations of the prophet Mohammed. On the other hand we have conservative Muslims where they believe in

The status of women in middle eastern communities are very apparent once the woman has given birth. “Both are constantly in the company of their mother; babysitters are an unknown institution (Davis. 25).” Women are the ones who are indefinitely in charge of their children beginning at birth. This is a very respectable status that is given by societies to women. Communities know that most men cannot raise a child with the adequate nutrition and care that a mother can provide. Many western societies may argue and proclaim women should not be the ones to sacrifice their lives to raise a kid. On the contrary, to have a child is cherished and it is looked at as a blessing rather than punishment.

In the post classical period, different societies viewed the women in different ways, therefore they were all treated differently. Due to all the passages being around the world, it shows how differently and similar these societies treated women. All have a different opinion on women’s role and position within their society. Some views were negative while others are positive and think both sex’s are both equal. In document 1, Islam: The Koran, it talks about how women are made from men.

A huge impact that Islam brought to women in the societies that it converted was that it gave them more rights and control of their life. It banned the common practice of female infanticide, recognized

There are many reasons why people believe that women are treated without respect in the Islamic nations. First and foremost, it says in The Koran that women may be beaten:

For example, if a women decided to become a doctor, this would be impossible because she wouldn’t be able to operate on her patient if she was wearing the required dress. Although the Quran states that women are equal to men, there are also man made books, called the Hadith, which put women on the same level as animals. As stated in the Hadith, “Women are naturally, morally and religiously defective.” Although this may sound odd, the more traditional Muslims prefer the Hadith, over the Quran even though it is their religious book.

There are many political, religious, and cultural factors that shape the lives of Islamic women many of them are completely different than factors in the lives of American women. Islam is one of the world’s fastest growing religions; however, Brooks argues that “Islam’s holiest texts have been misused to justify the repression of women, and how male pride and power have warped the original message of this once liberating faith.” The book also shows these factors have slowly been taking away women’s rights, rather than furthering them.

Female Infanticide Sixty million female children go missing in Asia because of female infanticide and abortions. Little girls are getting killed off because of their gender. Women prefer boys instead of girls so the girls get aborted before they are even born, but for the unlucky ones that don't get aborted they are usually killed once they are born and this is known as female infanticide. There is an example of female infanticide in the novel Unwind by Neil Shustrman, with his character Mai who is an unwind. Female infanticide is the intentional act of killing infant girls.

In this civilization their statues were very low and like other civilization, women were considered as symbol of evil for humanity. Arabic civilization (Before Islam): In Arabian civilization hate from women was on peak. They count women ashamed for their status. In Arabic civilization if wife give birth to girl they kill women or divorce her and girl were burring lively

Religion goes hand in hand with culture, and in the Muslim countries this is very apparent. The cultural importance of men over women may have stemmed from religion, however it was further recognized when imperialist countries introduced capitalism and class divides. “Islam must combat the wrenching impact of alien forces whose influence in economic, political, and cultural permutations continues to prevail” (Stowasser 1994, 5). Now, instead of an agrarian state where both men and women had their place, difficulties have formed due to the rise in education and awareness that women can and do have a place in society beyond domestic living Though women are not equal to men anywhere around the

Female infanticide has been accepted for centuries in many countries, and is more prominent in India and China than in any other countries around the world. It is illegal in India, however it is reported by Unicef that up to 50 million girls and women are “missing” in India as a result of systemic sex discrimination.

Unfortunately, the era of men and women being equal was hasty. Briefly after Mohammed’s death Islamic society changed, so did the interpretations of the Quran to meet different circumstances. Almost simultaneously women became inferior almost being viewed as possessions and property. Having choices was no longer an option for women, whatever the man said became the law. Girls at birth could be killed by their father’s because boys carried the name of the family while girls usually were concubines, workers, or sold. Most significantly women’s roles depended largely on what the husband’s economic status was. If the husband was a farmer the wife had to help in the fields or if the husband worked in the city she had to help run the business.