Women´s Right in Islam

Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in beds apart, and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. (64)

This biblical event was used as an encompassing example of the negative nature of women as well as their role in life. It also explicitly states that women are to submit to their husbands. This attitude of submission to male authority was expected from women in all circumstances.

The church’s interpretation of the women is that the husband is the head of her and she should be subjected to him (The New American Bible, Ephesians 5: 22-24). In the wife of bath, her fifth husband was questioning his wife, because of all what was written of bad wives by men (Wife of Bath, pg 699). The Thousand and One Nights is centered on a good king who was deceived and hurt by his wife, which twisted his morality. He vowed to marry a woman each night and in the morning he would kill her. The king’s daughter, Shahrazad, decided to take a stand and marry the king. With her intelligence and storytelling, she was able not only to save her own life, but her kingdom as well (The Thousand and One Nights, pg 554). Shahrazad was a good wife even if it meant risking her life. Men has an impact on his wife. Yes, he is superior to her, but he needs to bring her to holiness and reciprocate her love. Husbands love your wife as much as you love your own bodies (The New American Bible, Ephesians 5:28). Make sure your wife lacks blemish and bring her to holiness and without blame

“11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” (NIV)

The purpose of this essay is to examine the question of whether or not the Bible was intended to instruct equality between men and women, or if it was intended to instruct women's submission to man. Conventional Christians and evangelicals believe that the husband should have the leadership role in the household, women should not speak in church, wives should submit to their husbands, and other ideas that put women below men. Modern Christians and feministic Christians however, believe that the Bible intended to teach equality between man and woman. The belief is that the bible is not being interpreted correctly thus leaving people with the wrong ideas on how men and women should correspond with each other.

I would no longer in the bed abide / If that I felt his arm over my side / Till he had paid his ransom unto me /” (253). She will not give her husbands anything sexual if she does not receive something that she wants from him. She ensures that if

Generally, in ancient Israel, full wives and concubines, in early puberty around eleven and twelve, conceived and produced children with their husbands for agricultural needs for the families’ survival. Women who were married were protected of polygamy practice, known practice of a husband possessing more than one wife; whereas, women living alone, were unprotected members of society. In ancient Israel, two types of wives existed, the full wives and the concubines. Future husbands or their families purchased wives from the father of landowners; this purchase, known as a “bride price”, displayed a common practice of ancient Israel. However, concubines, the significantly lower status women, exist from the fathers of none landowners. Divorced, sexually assaulted, or orphan women often defined the concubines; no bride price paid for the concubines. Marrying concubines increased the husbands’ chances of producing sons (Carvalho pp. 36-38).

Also, while she claims Biblical support for her views on marriage, the support that she cites is conveniently edited to suit her purposes (for example, Solomon did have 700 wives and 300 concubines -- but his appetites led to his turning away from God; and the marital relationship specified in the Bible is a reciprocal one rather than the one-sided one she speaks of, tilted in favour of the wife -- she conveniently ignores that while the "Apostel [...] / [...] bad oure housbondes for to love us weel", he also exhorts women to love their husbands), and she elsewhere ignores the Bible when it proves difficult to "glose" in her favour (as in her dismissal of its injunction to dress "in habit maad with chastitee and shame"). Moreover, her behaviour is a demonstration of all the anti-feminist accusations

The Wife of Bath uses bible verses in “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.” Further, she employs the verses as an outline of her life to find reason in God to justify her actions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the verses differs within each stanza of the poem. The Wife of Bath is a sexually promiscuous, lustful, and manipulative woman. She marries men one after the other as they get older and die. In order to combat and overthrow the speculation and criticism being thrust upon her by societal norms because of her marriages, the wife turns to specific bible passages to find reason in life and support for her actions (Article Myriad.com). When the wife is having sex quite frequently and with different men she is said to be fruitful and multiplying. According to the wife, this is what she is told to do in the bible passage, which she has misinterpreted. Ironically, The Wife of Bath is using a predominantly male dominated book to back up and support her reasons for women being equal to men (Article Myriad.com). Not only has she referred to the benefits of adultery through the bible, she has also attempted to undermine the power of men in the very same way she has attempted to prove that the genders are equal. From this, it can be interpreted that although the wife claims to be providing evidence for women being equal to men, she is actually saying that women are better than men. She misinterprets the readings of the bible and male written passages on purpose in order to suit her needs.

We the Men of Gilead, in Order to form a more Holy Union, establish righteousness, insure domestic sanctity, provide for the supreme defense, promote the faith, and secure the Blessings of Our Father to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for Gilead. In the Establishment of Gilead, we declare that all citizens must follow the true teachings of Our Holy Father, and no false interpretations otherwise. We declare that all men are created equal, and all women equal in their minority. We declare that a woman’s greatest achievement is motherhood, she shall bear children lest she fails her duty. All women must not hinder this process, otherwise be declared unwomen. Any woman declared unholy must first pass through

The Bible is controversial on the matter of gender equality. There are numerous contradictions about the status of women in Christian society. Historically, the most prominent interpretation has been rather negative toward women. The Christian Church, with principally male authority, emphasizes the idea that women are inferior to man. They focus on Eve’s sin leading to a punishment that “her husband will have authority over her.” (Drury, 34)

The Quran also justifies polygamy in the Muslim lifestyle. The Muslim social order was vehemently opposed to self-determination for women and declared only men could repudiate their spouses. The fear of self- determination was linked to fitna, so women had to be constrained. The family hierarchy of male domination was determined by the Prophet’s life with women and leads readers to recognize the complexity of masculine vulnerability to the attraction of women. The sexual power of women over men has dictated much of the Islamic sharia regarding marriage. Men had the right to sexual satisfaction, but women also had to be sexually satisfied so as not to commit or tempt other men to fornication.

Once I began to read this chapter, Judges 19, I automatically knew that this was a story in the Bible that I have never heard being preached within the A.M.E Zion church or any church for that matter. This story spoke of the unfortunate rape, abuse, and dismemberment of a concubine. Reading this made me stop and think; what was the purpose of this horrifying story within the Bible?

The first article that is discussed in great proportion is called ‘The Feminist Criticism of the Old Testament: Why Bother?’ by Deborah W. Rooke. Rooke voices her opinion quite clear by making the statement that

The juxtaposition in table 3:1 provides us with a better perception of the text, which helps with understanding the parallelism between both traditions and how they overlap. Sherwood refers to Lev. 18 and 20 as “mirror-images of one another.” Wold indicates that the relationship between both chapters is that they “deal with the same laws,” but Lev 20 adds the “death penalty” whereas Lev 18 only talks about the kārēt. Therefore, the main concern of this legislation is concentrate in the taboos associated with certain sexual relationships.