Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 7

WHAT MUSLIMS BELIEVE

The Perspective of Muslim Women
Muslim women generally consider themselves protected and satisfied within their culture. Their fulfilling social life is usually gender-separated and happens primarily within extended families and some close neighbors.

The Protection of Muslim Women
Women are valued in Islam. In fact, Muhammad brought an end to the practice of female infanticide, widely practiced before his time. The honor of women is a major concern in Muslim societies. The reputation of the family is linked with the women. Islam helps maintain roles and expectations that predate Muhammad. The modest dress code is to protect women. If seen without loose clothing or a veil, men might judge a woman based on her appearance or may try to abuse her. Muslim women do not need to wear a veil or loose clothes at home or when only women are present.

Polygamy
Since marriage and child bearing are highly valued in the Middle East, polygamy is allowed and yet controlled. Islam limits a man to four wives and requires equal treatment for each.

WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE

The Perspective of Christian Women
Christians believe that the Bible teaches that both man and woman were created in God’s image, had a direct relationship with God, and shared jointly the responsibilities of bringing up children and ruling over the created order.

“Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:26-28)

Christian husbands and wives are to mutually submit to one another. Women are to respect their husbands; husbands are to sacrificially and selflessly love their wives, just as Jesus Christ loves His church.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:21-25)

The Protection of Christian Women
Christian women are to dress modestly.

“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.” (1 Timothy 2:9)

And all followers of Jesus are to flee from sexual immorality.

“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Not Conforming to the World
Followers of Jesus believe that they must be transformed by renewing their minds and avoid conforming to the patterns of the secular world.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

Problems arise when Christians adapt to the Western secular culture more than to the Bible. When this happens, there is a decline in morality, which leads to an increase in sexual immorality, drunkenness, deceit, selfishness, rage and other sins.

How to Correct Misunderstandings

The Misunderstandings
Western values conflict with Muslims regarding women perhaps more than any other category. There are several problems in Muslim societies in regard to women. However, secularism and women’s liberation have brought the “Christian” West several problems as well.

Correcting the Misunderstandings
Christians, often focused on the plight of Muslim women, fail to see that many Western “solutions” are more to be feared than the problems they address. Many Muslim women prefer their lifestyle to lonely singleness, sexual exploitation, and the desire for money that makes home and family unimportant.

Societies long dominated by Islam have problems that need to be addressed, but before Christians can address these issues, they must deal with their own cultural problems. As Jesus said, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)

Information is from “Islam & Christianity,” Rose Publishing

Also see:
Islam and Women
Oppression of Women

Islam and Women

The dualism in Islam allows for two ways to treat women. They can be honored and protected, or they can be beaten. Today, Western nations allow Islamic women to be treated as Islam wants to treat them. In short, they are not subject to our laws and customs of equality. Why? Our politicians and intellectuals do not want to offend Islam by discussing the second-class status of women in Islam.

This lesson is on women. If you're going to study Islam, you have to study women as a separate category. And the reason for this is simple---Islamic doctrine denies that men and women are equal. The dualism of Islam separates women into a separate category. The Koran has whole sections devoted to how women are treated differently from men. Many hadith (traditions) put women in a special category. Islam is very proud of how it treats its women and says that, in the West, our treatment of women is terrible---that they are not protected and honored. In Islam, women are protected and honored (Muslims claim).

Let's examine the doctrine that underlies each separate case of how women are treated. Islam is a rational system of politics and culture. It always has a doctrinal reason for everything it does, and this is one of the things that make studying Islam easy. If Muslims do it, there is a reason. There is very little creativity inside of Islam. It doesn't need to create, because Islam has a perfect universal and final doctrine. Its doctrine about women is perfect; therefore, it doesn't need to innovate in any way. Islam even claims that it is the world's first feminist movement--that women now have more rights than they did before Islam.

Let's examine the subject of beatings. The Koran is clear: It says that if a woman does not obey her husband---that is, does not submit---she can be beaten. Let's see how this plays out. A Palestinian woman sued in a Sharia court. What she wanted was this: a judgment that her husband would only beat her once a week. She said that currently, he beats her every day, and that that was excessive. So, she sued in Sharia court to have them direct her husband to only beat her once a week.

At the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, it was decided that everyone who crossed the border had to be photographed. The US military was doing this, and since many of the people coming across the border were Afghani women, in their full head-to-toe burqa---including the face veil---they were taken to a separate tent where a female soldier helped them get their burqa off and photographed their face.

Now, this is merely anecdotal information that was passed to me by a soldier, and doesn't have any scientific evidence, but the women who did this work said that it seemed to them like nine out of ten women that they saw, had been bruised in the face.

This goes along with what the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science reported. In a scientific survey of Pakistani women, about 90% of them said that they had been beaten by their husbands. In the country of Chad, in Africa, they tried to outlaw beatings, but Islam is very strong in Chad. The imams and other Islamic leaders protested, saying that anti-wife beating laws were against Sharia law. The bill was defeated.

Some argue cynically, but practically, that, since Islamic women are beaten from early on, by the time they are married they are used to this treatment, and it does not seem to bother them. This business of beating wives is thoroughly established in Islam. This is not some sort of aberration. We've already mentioned that the Koran says that the beating of a wife is permitted. It also goes further to say, though, that if the woman submits, she should be given food, clothing and shelter, so those are also part of a woman's rights.

Mohammed left behind a great deal of information about the beating of women. There is one tradition that summarizes Islam and women. He said, never ask a man why he beats his wife. We know that from one tradition (hadith) that he himself hit his favorite wife, Aisha, and we know that he stood by without comment when her father struck Aisha in his presence. But then again, Mohammed also stood by without saying a word when Ali beat Aisha's black female slave. Ali was Mohammed's cousin, son-in-law and the fourth caliph (supreme leader).

There's a famous hadith where a woman comes to Mohammed with a complaint about her husband. The hadith says that there was a bruise on her face that was green in color. Mohammed addressed the issue that she brought up, but he made no remark about the bruise on her face. Actually, another time, he left a hadith, which says that when you hit women, do not strike them in the face. He also left behind one other piece of information regarding the beating of women. He said that they should be beaten lightly. This invites questions. What does it mean to beat lightly? Does it mean to use a small stick? And when using a stick, can you raise the stick above the head as you strike down at the woman? The Sunna doesn't describe this; it merely says that they are to be beaten lightly.

Now, Islam is a dualistic system. Dualism means that Islam always has two contradictory positions. So if there is a statement that says that it is proper to beat a woman, then somewhere else, there will be a contradictory statement. So, in another hadith, Mohammed said: "do not strike Allah's handmaidens." That is, don't hit women. However, there are only one or two of these statements; and there are many that describe how women should be subjugated. Of course, in Islam, hitting a woman is not abuse, because hitting a woman is allowed and not forbidden. If she's been trained properly, she does not object to these beatings. Since Mohammed established very firmly that striking women was within the bounds of Islam, Sharia incorporates the Sunna of Mohammed into the formal structure of Islamic law. There are rules laid out as to the gradation of how the man makes the woman submit, and the final stage is a beating.

Now, let's look at another way that women are treated inside of Islam. In 2002, researchers in refugee camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan found that half the girls were married by age 13. In an Afghan refugee camp, more than two out of three second-grade girls were either married or engaged! Virtually all the girls who were beyond second grade were already married. One ten-year-old was engaged to a man of 60. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Afghan girls under the age of 16, and many as young as nine, are in arranged marriages. This is pure Sunna---the way of Mohammed. How do we know this? When Mohammed was in his mid-fifties, he was engaged to Aisha, a child of six. Then, when she was nine years old, he consummated the marriage. So, when a 60-year-old Pakistani Muslim is engaged to a 10-year-old, that is Sunna, because it is the way of Mohammed.

Now we come to a treatment of Islamic women which is not strictly Islamic doctrine, and that is "honor killings." An honor killing is when a man kills a woman because she has violated his honor. A Muslim male must control the sexuality of the females in his household, or else he is dishonored. It is one of his chief concerns. In Dallas, Texas, two Muslim sisters were found shot to death in the back of their father's taxicab. The father is being sought by the FBI in conjunction with the murder. A friend who knew them said the father was very strict about the girl's relationships with boys; their talking with boys, as well as the type of clothing the daughters wore. The sisters dressed in Western clothes and listened to popular music. The father was quite angry that his daughters were not acting like 'proper' Muslim women.

Islam does not say to kill the woman who does not obey. Instead, it brings the level of punishment up to beatings. However, once a woman is to be subjugated where she can be beaten, it's not too far from taking the final step. Killing a family member over the issue of Islam is Sunna. We know that, at the Battle of Bader, there is a story in which a son is remorseful about having killed his father, who was a kafir (infidel/unbeliever), but in the end he realizes that since his father was a kafir, even though he was a cultured man, it was better that he was dead. So it is Sunna for one family member to kill another, to advance Islam.

The Koran speaks at great length about women's rights. Among them are these: that they are to receive half the amount of inheritance of a male; and that, in a court of law, it takes the testimony of two women to equal the testimony of one man. So, if a woman testifies against a man, and he denies the accusation, then the testimony has no weight at all. In Islamic court, this makes cases of rape almost impossible to prove.

Muslims will say: "Oh no, no, no! Islam teaches the equality of women!" and indeed, there are many verses which say that women are equal on Judgment Day. That's when they're equal. Then, every person will be called upon to account for what they did and said in life, and in this matter, men and women will be treated equally.

Let's examine the fine print. It is true that the Koran says that women are to be treated equally on Judgment Day. They are to be judged on what they did in this life, and what they're supposed to do in this life is to obey the men, to submit to them; therefore, their "equality" on Judgment Day means that they will be judged on how well they submitted to men.

Mohammed commented that he had seen Hell, and the great majority of its inhabitants were women. Why were they there? They had not fully appreciated their husbands. In the same hadith, he made the remark that women were spiritually inferior to men, and that women were not as intelligent as men. Part of a woman's "rights" inside of Islam is that she is not as intelligent, and she has a much better chance of going to Hell.

But even if she goes to Paradise, she is still in for a second-class treatment. Paradise for men is a sexual playground, but none of that seems to extend to women; so that, even in Paradise, women are not rewarded like men.

There's another interesting comment about women and worship in Islam. A man is to pray facing Mecca; the women are to be behind him in prayer. This is the reason why women always sit in the back, in the mosque. Now, interestingly, in the religion of Islam, there are many things that can negate the power of prayer. One of those things that can negate prayer is, while you're praying, if a dog, a donkey or a woman should walk in front of you. So, for the purposes of this tradition, a woman is equal to a dog or a donkey.

Now let's take up the matter of the infamous burqa -the covering from head to toe, which can even include the face. Some Islamic women say, "Well, that is not really required." Others say that it is. So, on this issue, the Koran does display a dualism. We do know this: Mohammed made all of his wives wear a veil; we also know that everyone in his entourage around him did so, as well. So, although there is not a universal commandment that says women should wear a burqa, we do know that, from the Sunna of Mohammed, his wives did that, and all the women around him did that as well. This is a powerful influence with regard to the burqa.

In the Muslim holy city of Mecca, a girls' school caught on fire. Naturally, the girls tried to escape, but they were driven back into the burning building, because they were not wearing their face covering and full-body veil. They died, because it was the decision of the religious police that, better they should die, than have their faces exposed in public.

Another aspect of Islam is polygamy. The Koran is quite clear on polygamy. A man may have one, two, three or four wives. However, it does not say that a woman can have one, two, three, or four husbands.

There is also the matter of stoning. Now, it can be argued that stoning is not Islamic, or it can be argued that it is Islamic. For instance, in 2008, in Tehran, Iran (which calls itself an Islamic republic), two sisters, Zohre and Azar Kabiri, were convicted of adultery. They were sentenced to be stoned to death. Adultery is a crime punishable by death. The way this worked was, at first, they were convicted of having illegal relations, and they were given 99 lashings each. They were then brought back into court, and the same evidence was used to try them for adultery, whereupon they were sentenced to be stoned to death. The evidence? It was a videotape where the two sisters were caught talking to some men without adult family members with them.

There's an interesting thing about stoning, by the way. Sharia law is very technical about this, and what it says is that the stones should be chosen so they do not kill immediately. They have to be big enough so that, when enough of them are thrown, they will kill the victim. Death by stoning is meant to be a torturous death that the entire community participates in.

Now we come to an important thing. We have just described Islam. We must now talk about our response to this, and our response to this is shameful. In this country, starting in the 1960s, we had a political movement called feminism, which said women should be fully equal to men before the law, and a great deal of progress has been made in that. But on the issue of Islam, kafir (non-Muslim) women are shamefully silent. What we see here is indication of how our universities, for instance, have responded to Islam. They are silent. Universities should be a place where issues are discussed and described, but no Women's Studies teach anything about what Sharia law demands concerning women in Islam. Social workers do not report beatings inside Islamic families in Europe. The whole system has turned a blind eye to this.

What's happening in Europe---and it's starting to happen in America---is this: Muslim civil rights organizations maintain that Muslims should not fall under any aspect of family law in the West, because our family law is based on ignorance of Allah's law. Therefore, there should be two sets of laws---one for kafirs, and one for Muslims. So if a beaten Muslim woman shows up in the emergency room, the police would not be called. Or, if she wishes to press charges, it would be in an Islamic court.

What is the response of Western women to this? Well, they don't want to be culturally insensitive. They don't want to be racist. So if this culture of Islam wants to beat its women, why should they say anything about it? They do not want to be culturally insensitive. Our universal human rights stop at Mohammed's door.

Islam has a precise doctrine concerning how to treat women. Other than after death, the Islamic treatment of women says that they are less than a man. That is dreadful, but what is worse is that we will not help Islamic women, for fear we will offend Islam.


The text above is taken from the website Political Islam.

Oppression of Women

North America


US

A runaway teen fears her family after her conversion to Christianity. The teen says her life is in danger and she could be killed in an honor killing.

August 13, 2009 Update
August 21, 2009 Update: Rifqa Bary is staying in Florida. At least for now.

August 24, 2009 It's a well-documented reality that Muslims who leave Islam often risk death, but that's a reality that the mainstream media has yet to acknowledge.

August 25, 2009 Media lies about Rifqa Bary



August 14, 2009

Canada

Crown prosecutors are seeking to send the head of Ottawa's taxi union to jail for up to two years, alleging that a campaign of threatening and intimidating behaviour directed toward his daughter after she turned her back on the family's Muslim beliefs was an honour crime.



September 3, 2009

US

Honor killings are on the rise.



Asia

August 10, 2009

Pakistan

A woman who is shot by her brother-in-law dies in the hospital.



August 12, 2009

Bangladesh

The parents of a rape victim in Faridpur yesterday demanded justice after two men repeatedly raped their 14-year old daughter, recorded the incidents on a mobile phone and later uploaded the video footage on the internet.



August 13, 2009

Pakistan

A 70 year old woman is raped by an 80 year old man.



August 14, 2009

Bangladesh

Gang-rape victim's family is tormented by hunger, threats, and shame.



August 14, 2009

Afghanistan

Afghanistan passes 'barbaric' law diminishing women's rights which allows husbands to deny their wives food if they fail to obey sexual demands.



August 14, 2009

Afghanistan

Fighting for women's rights in Afghanistan. A special burns unit is set up by a French charity for women who set themselves on fire, usually to escape a violent husband or a forced marriage.



August 14, 2009

India

A divorced Muslim woman is ordered to stay away from her Hindu boyfriend for not following Sharia law.



August 16, 2009

Afghanistan

A video: Fighting for women's rights in Afghanistan. Women's rights campaigners say there is still a long way to go to ease the plight of women in Afghanistan.



August 16, 2009

Afghanistan

A video: A campaigner on women's rights who has known Afghanistan's First Lady, Dr Zinat Karzai, for years tells Panorama that women's rights do not necessarily stretch to the president's wife.



August 17, 2009

Pakistan

A man killed his wife - a mother of four children - on Sunday for her dissatisfaction with his second marriage.



August 17, 2009

Pakistan

Violence against women during the last week showed that women are not safe in any part of their age, as one 80-year-old woman was raped and a widow was injured for refusing to marry a younger man.



August 19, 2009

Malaysia

First Muslim woman to be caned in a Malaysian jail for drinking a beer. Update: First Muslim woman to be caned in a Malaysian jail's father wants her sentence to be carried out in public. Update: Beer-drinking Muslim prays before her caning sentence.



August 19, 2009

Pakistan

An Anti Terrorism Court indicted two policemen for kidnapping, raping and murdering a three-year-old girl in Korangi area.



August 20, 2009

Pakistan

In one month 40 women were killed under honor killing in Sindh, province of Pakistan.





August 22, 2009

Afghanistan

Reports of intimidation and fraud, especially among women, is reported in the presidential race.



August 22, 2009

Pakistan

Two brothers allegedly tortured their three sisters, leaving one of them dead and injuring two others here on Friday, police said.



August 23, 2009

Pakistan

A man killed his wife and a relative in the name of honour killing.



August 24, 2009

Pakistan

A man killed his wife, daughter, and niece on suspicion of loose character in the Surjani Town police limits.



August 25, 2009

Bangladesh

Last year in Bangladesh there were 179 recorded cases of acid attacks.



August 27, 2009

Bangladesh

Catholic women of the village of Dewtola can no longer go to mass because of continual threats from local Muslims.



Middle East

August 12, 2009

Jordan

A 41 year-old Jordanian man was charged with premeditated murder after his raped teenage niece was shot dead to "cleanse" the family's honor.



August 14, 2009

Jordan

A pregnant woman is murdered by her brother in an honor killing.



August 14, 2009

Egypt

An Egyptian is charged with genital mutilation of an 11 year old girl.



August 18, 2009

UAE

A couple purchased a girl from her parents, smuggled her into the UAE and forced her into prostitution.



August 21, 2009

Turkey

Ex-husband kills his wife and five family members because she refused to reconcile with him.



August 24, 2009

Egypt

Egyptian police detain the family of an abducted Christian girl.



August 24, 2009

Gaza Strip

Female students in the Gaza Strip will be required to wear head coverings and full-length robes beginning this school year. According to the new regulations, any female student that does not attend class in the proper attire will be sent home.



August 24, 2009

Iran

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to nominate three women as Iran's first female cabinet members since the 1979 Islamic revolution faced stiff criticism Saturday from clerics and lawmakers, as well as from women's rights activists.



August 24, 2009

Saudi Arabia

A Saudi Arabian father forced his 10-year-old daughter to return to her 80-year-old husband Sunday, after she was found hiding at the home of her aunt for 10 days.



August 28, 2009

Yemen

A 10 year old child bride obtains a divorce. The aftermath isn't so pleasant for her.



September 3, 2009

Egypt

How women really live in the Muslim world.



September 3, 2009

Saudi Arabia

A young woman has been given refuge at a woman's shelter after she filed a lawsuit against her father who she claims has been sexually abusing her since the age of three.



September 7, 2009

Israel

A graph of honor killings in Islamic occupied Israel territory.



Europe

August 9, 2009

UK

A woman who claimed she was beaten and sexually assaulted by a diplomat and his royal wife, who brought her to London, has spoken of her fear of reprisals.



August 15, 2009

Denmark

A tour of the town ended badly for a 20-year-old woman in Helsingør, who on her way home was accosted by a man who dragged her into a laundromat, where he forced her to complete oral sex, report the North Zealand police. (In Danish)



August 16, 2009

Britain

British pools impose Muslim dress code on all swimmers.



August 17, 2009

UK

An illegal immigrant who raped two women within days of arriving in Britain has been jailed.



August 17, 2009

Germany

A Kurdish man seeking asylum in Germany kills his wife because she's too independent.



August 28, 2009

UK

Muslim man is jailed for raping two teens in the back seat of his car.



September 2, 2009

France

As thousands of girls and young women prepare to start the new school year in France, activists are sounding the alarm over those who are missing -- teenagers sent abroad over the holidays and forced into marriage.



September 3, 2009

UK

The shocking story of a Muslim woman whose parents wanted her killed because they disapproved of her western lifestyle.



Africa

August 23, 2009

Mali

The BBC reports that a majority of Mali women don't want equal rights.



September 6, 2009

Sudan

Plight of Sudanese journalist who wore trousers shines spotlight on dwindling number of countries who flog their citizens.





Produced by www.politicalislam.com
Publisher: Bill Warner; Editor: Asma Marwan

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