Question for guys, has leaving Islam changed your attitudes towards women?
Reply #21 - February 04, 2013, 06:07 PM
Welcome, brother. I am happy to have you here, as it seems that we have a lot in common. I might even venture to say that there is a chance I may know you, or at least have had the pleasure of meeting you in the past. I am also an American. I am a former Muslim and I devoted a large portion of my adult life to studying Islam. While I can no longer claim in good faith that I believe Islam is the true religion of God, given the time I have invested in the religion, it is still a topic that fascinates me. I look forward in engaging in a fact-based, intellectual discussion with you regarding the topics that you alluded to in your above post. I trust that the ultimate aim of both of us, as fellow seekers of the truth, will be uncovering truth, not simply defending dogma.
I echo much of what Kutta said in the posts above, but as I student of Islam, I know that you must have come across these arguments before. May I even go out on a limb and say that you have your own rebuttals for those points that also make sense to you in your mind. I know that I did. Given your background, I will not bombard you with ayat and ahadith. Instead, I will ask you your views on certain topics that have been presented in Islamic literature and further ask you how you can continue to stand by your statement about “women's equal role to men befor [sic] God…and before the law, not only do they have a high and noble position in the family but they are also superior to men on several levels.”
The point that I am asserting, through out all of this, is that while Islam has allotted some rights and elements of respect to women (it would be difficult to have a practical way of like that was utterly and comically anti-female) the general attitude of Islam towards women is centuries behind the progress that has been made in our modern world.
Firstly, I believe that Muhammad, as a product of his own environment, did in fact believe that males were, as a whole, superior to females. This sentiment echoes itself numerous times through out the Qur’an. While it is true that Islam forbade the outright murder of infant girls, the Qur’an still considers daughters to be inferior to sons. Why does Muhammad narrate in the Qur’an that Allah is upset about being assigned daughters instead of sons, as we find in Surah Najm? Why does he describe the prospect of having daughters instead of sons as “A division most unfair” (Qismatun Dhizaa)? Similarly, in Surah Saffat we read “So inquire of them, [O Muhammad], "Does your Lord have daughters while they have sons? (149) Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?" (150) Unquestionably, it is out of their [invented] falsehood that they say, (151) " Allah has begotten," and indeed, they are liars. (152) Has He chosen daughters over sons?” It is clearly implied here that sons are a better choice than daughters. How can this be the case if the sexes are equal in the eyes of God?
The second point I will make is on the issue of sexual slavery. It is hard to imagine anyone making excuses for such an abhorrent practice, but as a believer in the perfect nature of the prophet, you are required to justify even the most heinous of acts. Again, the Qur’an is rife with instances sanctioning the capture of females and subsequently using them for sexual gratification. How, in a modern mindset, can you argue that allowing such “right hand possessions” to be sexually exploited could be anything but degrading to women? Would you feel the same way if the same thing were to happen today on the streets of our own cites and towns? Could you imagine, in the event of a fully legitimate Jihad, capturing the wives and daughters of your non-Muslim neighbors and compelling them to sexual slavery? If Muhammad were such a champion of Women’s rights, surely this practice would have been outlawed 1400 years ago. Instead, he aided, abetted, and participated in it.
Thirdly, as it relates to the issue of finance, I would argue that Islam really does view women as being worth half a man—in almost all regards. I have heard (and once upon a time even used) all the arguments stating that because the burden of financial responsibility always lies on the shoulder of the man, it is necessary to make sure that he receives more than a woman would in cases of inheritance. That makes sense, though one might wonder why that reasoning was not mentioned in the Qur’an as it seemingly slighted women by repeating “And for the male shall be the portion of two females.” That logic runs into a problem, however, when we look at the case of so called “blood money.” As the sad case of Lama reminds us, the death of a girl requires only half the payout as the death of a boy. Is the loss of her life any less significant? Similarly, the birth of a girl only requires the slaughter of one sheep, while the birth of a boy requires the slaughter of two sheep in thanks to Allah. Is the girl’s birth less significant? Looking at all of these “half” instances together, it appears we have a trend developing.
Each of these examples are damning individually, but when you couple them with verses about men being able to beat their women and ahadith about women being required to obey their husbands or face the wrath of God and his angels, a very misogynistic picture begins to emerge from the dark room of Islamic literature. Even though Islam gives women some rights, they are no where near as comprehensive and real as the rights given to all human beings in our secular democracies today. I think that Islam’s view on women is best summed up in this statement of the prophet himself, where he said “Treat women kindly for verily they are captives in your hands.” I am sure that is not how your enlightened mother had explained things to you years ago.
Topic: Question for guys, has leaving Islam changed your attitudes towards women?