Quote:. “Muslims Often Argue That Muhammad’S Marriages

Textual Analysis of Leila Ahmed’s “Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate”

Yet as I continued reading there was still something about the book that I didn’t like and I couldn’t understand. Then I read this paragraph from the book, “And he taught us that a wife’s ideal age was half the man’s age plus seven. He taught that women are physiologically ahead of men. Mr. Muhammad taught that no marriage could succeed where the women did not look up with respect to the man. And the man had to have something above and beyond the wife in order for her to be able to look to him for psychological security” (X 263-4). This quote explains that woman should meet a certain physical requirement before the man can accept her in a marriage. The white people would only let a black man into the same

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

“There is no shame in this, Mariam,” he said, slurring a little. “It’s what married people do. Its what the Prophet himself and his wives did. There is no shame”(Hosseini, 70).

An attitude of patriarchy places a high expectation on the oldest male in the household as the authority of the household, his wife (or wives) included. With this, a woman’s sexual experience was owned by the man in authority over her. Any illicit sexual activity of a woman under the authority of a man would have been a slight towards the patriarchal expectations and would be considered shameful for the man, his household, and the woman involved. As a result, ancient society would have expected the husband to act violently in response to any such dishonor put brought upon him by his wife. With these cultural mores in mind, the Prophets’ choice in a marriage metaphor would have been a valuable tool in their rhetorical aim. Weems states:

Many people see this as wrong, but why? It is clearly stated in the Islamic religion that women may be beaten if they are disobedience. Why then, would a woman do something defiant if she knows

Chraibi also took a monumental risk by making Khadija one of the central figures of mysticism in the novel. Though she has been regarded in traditional texts as one of Islam’s most important women, as well as Muhammad’s first and, arguably, most influential wife, no one gave as much importance to her in Muhammad’s journey as did Chraibi in this novel. In the Sahih Muslim, Muhammad said “God Almighty never granted me anyone better in this life than her. She accepted me when people rejected me” (Wikipedia). Khadija is known to have been extremely beautiful, Muhammad’s closest confidant, his only monogamous wife, and

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.

Religious scholars, and scholars for that matter, tend to be male. The educated female perspective found in the book The Qur’an and Women Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective by Amina Wadud was deeply refreshing. To hear an interpretation of the Qur’an strictly from a female perspective was fascinating, but more than that eye opening. Wadud was very careful to focus solely on the teachings of the Qur’an and not Islam as a whole, this was something I was grateful for. While it was a challenging read with advanced and interesting concepts she never assumed preexisting knowledge and explained all of her reasoning meticulously. This female voice was not only educated and well informed but also very needed. Many of the concepts she addresses are reinforced wholly by the teachings found in the Qur’an, contrary to what most would expect.

One question about Muhammad’s leadership that some people take for granted is, “Was Muhammad the natural leader for his group?” On a surface level it does make sense to nominate the guy who’s actually talking to God to be the person in charge of the affairs of your tribe. However, there are situations where it would just be practical to have both Muhammad as a “spiritual leader” or adviser, as well as a “leader” in charge of making the big decisions for the group. For instance, we discussed heavily in class the classic bedtime story: “Muhammad and the Insistent Adulterer.” The class was split on the issue of how Muhammad handled the confession. Some argued that the eleven lifelines Muhammad gave showed his human mercy. Others argued that giving

In some societies, women in the judicial process have very few rights that are the same as men, and their punishment seems to be much greater. Treatment by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and by other groups such as the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood all contribute to how women are treated legally. Zohreh Arshadi asserts that in countries such as Iran, "The Islamic punishments have encouraged a culture of violence against women...The fact that men receive a lighter punishment if they commit a violence against women undoubtedly encourages such violence. We saw how women could be killed with impunity during alleged adultery. Stoning to death for adultery, although technically admissible for both sexes, has also been carried out mainly against women” (Arshadi 2012). It is in countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and some non-Middle Eastern countries where the Qur’an is taken as a literal word and law, and there is constituted into actual state law. This means that certain texts from the Qur’an are used to treat women violently. For example a passage in the Qur’an states: Hadith Muslim (4:1982)  The Prophet said, “I saw Hell also. No such (abominable) sight have I ever seen as that which I saw today; and I observed that most of its inhabitants were women. They said: Messenger of Allah, on what account is it so? He said: For their ingratitude or disbelief

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.

Mernissi retraces her steps to pre-Islamic roots and to what extent it influenced Islam’s representation of the family unit. Islam had banished all practices in which sexual self-determination of women was asserted and marriage gave men absolute authority and holy approval.

Khadija was fifteen years older than Muhammad. Muhammad accepted work from Khadija and had led a few caravans for her. Credit should be given to Khadija for Muhammad’s success with Islam because it was her wealth that enabled him to spend a significant amount of time in religious meditation and isolation. Even though she was some years older than her twenty-five-year-old employee and had been married twice, she asked him to marry her (Phipps, 35).

It is ironical that all of them claim that Islam liberated women 1400 years ago. They claim that Islam gave women the right to equal education and civil and economic rights, but at the end of their analysis they come to the conclusion that a woman's place is in her husband's home and that she should be obedient to him and the male elite.