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Has Islam Really Improved the Lot of Women?
Frontpagemagazine ^ | July 31, 2024 | Hugh Fitzgerald

Posted on 07/31/2024 6:57:55 AM PDT by SJackson

A reflection on a horror story.

The claim that Islam has been beneficial for women is a staple of Islamic apologetics. Yet in Islam, a woman’s testimony is worth only half that of a man. The justification of this is provided by Muhammad in a famous hadith, “for it is the deficiency in her [woman’s] intelligence.” Such a clearly misogynistc view, by Muhammad, the Perfect Man and Model of Conduct, needs to be kept from Unbelievers. They might think ill of Muhammad, and that would never do.

What do those who have this rosy view of Islam think of the marriage of Muhammad to the Jewish girl from Khaybar, Safiyya, after he had killed her father and husband? Was that marriage entered into freely by Safiyya? Could she, taken as war booty, have dared to refuse to marry Muhammad? Can one really describe her as exercising her own free will? And there is an even more disturbing example of someone who was married without regard for her own opinion of the matter: little Aisha. She was six, and playing with dolls, when first betrothed to Muhammad, and nine years old when he, at the age of 54, consummated his marriage to her. Can a six-year-old, or a nine-year-old girl, be said to have the necessary understanding to give informed consent? Did Aisha have the right to refuse to marry Muhammad? She did not. Nor could she be considered old enough to have consented to the consummation of that marriage, that is, to sexual intercourse, at the age of nine. Today we would consider what Muhammad did to Aisha to constitute rape.

Some claim that Islam improved the lot of women by granting them inheritance rights. The Islamic rules on inheritance have not changed in 1,400 years. In western Arabia, in the 7th century, these may have represented an improvement on the pre-Islamic Arab pagan custom by which only males inherited. However, there is still some controversy over how firm that pagan rule of male-only inheritance was. Khadija, the businesswoman who was Muhammad’s first wife, apparently inherited property from her two previous husbands, both of whom predeceased her. So she, at least, could inherit property. Were other women in Arabia allowed to do the same? Save for Khadija, convincing evidence, for or against women inheriting property before Islam arrived, has not been found.

But even if Islam were to be credited for improving the status of women in the 7th century by allowing them to inherit, women were still far from obtaining equal rights. And Islam’s rules have not changed since then, so that what might have been “progressive” in 7th century Arabia — allowing women to inherit property, albeit at half the amount as for men — is now distinctly retrograde. Muslim women still inherit, according to the Sharia, half that of a man, while the right of women to inherit equally has been adopted among Unbelievers everywhere. Islam stood still, as it must, given the immutable Qur’an. The rest of the world, meanwhile, kept advancing toward full gender equality, which has now been obtained.

Sex with slaves is clearly permitted in Islam (23:6). There was no moral objection in Islam to limitless sex with slaves. Qur’an 4:24 says that if a Muslim man didn’t have enough resources to marry a free woman, which would require certain expenses including providing her with the mahr (a mandatory payment, in the form of money or possessions paid by the groom, to the bride at the time of marriage, that legally becomes her property), he could marry one of his sex slaves for free.

It’s not just members of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the Taliban who think the rights of women should not change. No devout Muslim thinks there can be changes to what the Qur’an commands and the “authentic” Hadith reinforce. Many assume that Muslims can change the contents of the Qur’an. They seem to think that it’s merely a matter of will: if enough Muslims think the “rights” of their women should evolve with changing times, then this will happen. But Islam refuses to change with changing times; the Qur’an’s verses are not to be tampered with. 1,400 years have passed, and Islam stays the same. That is both its strength, and its weakness. This Islamic stasis is something many in the West can’t allow themselves to recognize; it would call into question all the high hopes for a reformation of Islam.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; War on Terror
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1 posted on 07/31/2024 6:57:55 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
2 posted on 07/31/2024 6:58:33 AM PDT by SJackson (Lot of people put my grandpa through hell, and he’s still standing, Kai Trump)
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To: SJackson

At best, it’s a comparative question. Perhaps, for the time Islam was in, women’s lots were improved by it. But that’s because the culture around Islam was worse.

But there is no way you can say today that Islam is better at anything.


3 posted on 07/31/2024 6:59:50 AM PDT by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
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To: SJackson

Oh yeh, Islam loves women. At least the 8-10 year olds. 😏


4 posted on 07/31/2024 7:01:44 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: SJackson

Even though we will have to neutralize/terminate them one day, you have to admit these muzzies have a pretty good handle on how to treat their women. /sarc


5 posted on 07/31/2024 7:02:37 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: SJackson

Sure, it’s improved. They cover their hair and faces, saving makeup, hairdos and the money and stress that costs. They endure genital mutilation, follow the lead of their husband, maybe share him with multiple wives, skip education, thus no homework. What’s not to like? /s


6 posted on 07/31/2024 7:09:56 AM PDT by Reno89519 (Biden's Given His Farewell Address, So When Is He Leaving?)
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To: Jonty30

ISlime is nothing but a death cult founded by a thieving mass murderer.


7 posted on 07/31/2024 7:10:13 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

That’s because Mad Mo was mentally unstable.


8 posted on 07/31/2024 7:10:46 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: Georgia Girl 2
Oh yeh, Islam loves women. At least the 8-10 year olds. 😏

Hence one of the reasons the left embraces Islam.

9 posted on 07/31/2024 7:11:58 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: SJackson

“Sex with slaves is clearly permitted in Islam (23:6).”

And, of course, slavery is permitted.

And since the prophet Mohammed owned slaves, you can’t criticize slavery, because that would be criticizing the prophet, which is punishable by death.

It’s not a coincidence that when Islam takes back over a country from secular rule (like Libya) slavery rears its ugly head again.

Freed hostages held in Gaza describe how they were used as slaves. Slavery is part an parcel of Islam.


10 posted on 07/31/2024 7:13:37 AM PDT by Brookhaven (Ted Cruz said Jan. 6 was terrorism; don't forget that the next time you vote.)
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To: SJackson

One can only say Islam “protects” women, as chattel to be locked-away, because Islam itself creates and perpetuates a lowest-common-denominator society of primitive urges and anti-humanism, where the weak and feminine are at risk and must necessarily be protected.


11 posted on 07/31/2024 7:16:05 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: No name given

I agree. But you have think about the time he was in and the other cultures around. At the time, he might have advanced woman’s causes, but it stopped with him while the rest of the world advanced and surpassed Islam and have had 1600 of advancements, while Islam stopped.


12 posted on 07/31/2024 7:23:52 AM PDT by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
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To: Reno89519

The women supporting Palestinians should move there to find out how much they are supported.


13 posted on 07/31/2024 7:26:36 AM PDT by ActresponsiblyinVA
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To: PGR88
"chattel" indeed. Last month I went into the local Kohl's store to check a couple things. While browsing around I saw a family enter the store.

Husband and two kids looked normal and dressed normal. The wife wore an abaya, complete with a head covering exposing only her eyes, as in the picture at the start of this thread.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, right here in the good ol' USA, and I'm sure her life is not improved by being treated in such a manner.

14 posted on 07/31/2024 7:30:13 AM PDT by ken in texas
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To: SJackson
IMG-0378
15 posted on 07/31/2024 7:39:40 AM PDT by The Louiswu (Pray for Peace in the world.)
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To: SJackson

16 posted on 07/31/2024 7:41:07 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: SJackson

Yes indeed!

Women know their place and stay home and cook goat burgers.

No need for clothing expense. One burka lasts a lifetime.

No expensive wines guzzled all day long while the husband is busy all day castrating camels.

No wives committing adultery or lesbian activities. They’re executed.

No expensive tuitions. Rudimentary education until 4th grade is sufficient. All they have to know is how to lay down and take it.

Now get out there all you giggly idiots and demonstrate for
Islam. When Camela gets in the speed with which you reach your goal will astound you.


17 posted on 07/31/2024 7:49:23 AM PDT by ABStrauss (I miss Rlush!)
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To: No name given

I take issue with that. You left out pedophile.


18 posted on 07/31/2024 7:51:51 AM PDT by BipolarBob (There are two types of people in this world. . . . Avoid both of them.)
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To: SJackson

Per the Sahiyah Hadiths,... islamic women are deficient in intelligence & religion.

Odd though, why are males raised by females/mothers?


19 posted on 07/31/2024 8:21:57 AM PDT by existentially_kuffer
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To: SJackson

No, no, no; it has. Compared to what 3rd wave feminism has done for women in the West Islam is a gawd-given miracle.


20 posted on 07/31/2024 8:22:36 AM PDT by bobbo666 (baizuo)
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