Judaica Earrings
Women in Islam versus Women in Judeo Christian Tradition1. INTRODUCTION Five years ago, I read in the Toronto Star issue of July 3, 1990 an article titled "Islam is not alone in patriarchal doctrines", by Gwynne Dyer. The article described the furious reactions of the players of a group discussion on women and power kept in Montreal to the remarks of the famous Egyptian feminist Dr. Nawal Saadawi. Her "politically incorrect" affirmations included : "the most restrictive parts towards women may be found primary in Judaism in the Old Testament then in Christianity and then in the Quran"; "all religions are patriarchal because they stem from patriarchal societies"; and "veiling of women is not a specifically Islamic exercise but an ancient cultural inheritance with analogies in sister religions". The players could not bear sitting around while their faiths were being equated with Islam. I was not astonished that the group discussion players had held such a negative view of Islam, particularly when women's issues were involved. In the West, Islam is believed to be the symbol of the subordination of women It inspires the memories of another evenly disgraceful scene of Governor George Wallace of Alabama in 1962 standing in front of a school gate attempting to block the entrance of black students in order to prevent the desegregation of Alabama's schools. What intrigued me the most with regards to the Montreal group discussion was one question : Were the affirmations made by Saadawi, or any of her critics, factual? In other words, do Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have the same conception of women? Are they dissimilar in their conceptions ? Do Judaism and Christianity , truly, offer women a better treatment than Islam does? What is the Truth? It is not easy to search for and find answers to these difficult questions. The firstborn difficultness is that one has to be reasonable and goal to be attained or, at least, do one's utmost to be so. The other outstanding difficultness is the overpowering breadth of the subject. Therefore, for the duration of the last few years, I have expended numerous hours reading the Bible, The Encyclopaedia of Religion, and the Encyclopaedia Judaica searching for answers. I have likewise read assorted books talking about the position of women in dissimilar religions written by scholars, apologists, and critics. The material staged in the following chapters represents the primary determinations of this modest research. I don't assert to be utterly objective. This is beyond my fixed capacity. All I may say is that I have been trying, allround this research, to approach the Quranic idealisti of "speaking justly". I would like to emphasize in this introduction that my intention for this study is not to minimize Judaism or Christianity. As Muslims, we believe in the divine origins of both. No one may be a Muslim without believing in Moses and Jesus as outstanding prophets of God. I would likewise like to emphasize that I concerned myself only with Doctrine. That is, my concern is, mainly, the position of women in the three religions as it appears in their basi roots not as practised by their millions of followers in the world today. Therefore, 2. EVE'S FAULT The three religions agree on one basic fact: Both women and men are produced by God, The Creator of the whole universe. However, disagreement starts soon after the creation of the basi man, Adam, and the firstborn woman, Eve. The Judaeo-Christian conception of the creation of Adam and Eve is narrated in detail in "I will primarily increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you." To Adam He said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree .... Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life..." The Islamic conception of the basi creation is found in assorted places in the Quran, for example: "O Adam dwell with your wife in the Garden and take delight in as you wish but approach not this tree or you run into hurt and transgression. Then Satan whispered to them in order to disclose to them their shame that was concealed from them and he said: 'Your Lord only forbade you this tree lest you become angels or such beings as live forever.' And he swore to them both that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he brought them to their fall: when they tasted the tree their shame became manifest to them and they begun to sew together the leaves of the Garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: 'Did I not forbid you that tree and tell you that Satan was your avowed enemy?' They said: 'Our Lord we have wronged our own souls and if You pardon us not and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall surely be lost' " (7:19:23). A careful look into the two accounts of the story of the Creation reveals a great deal of necessary differences. Nowhere in the Quran may one find even the slightest hint that Eve tempted Adam to eat from the tree or even that she had eaten before him. 3. EVE'S LEGACY The "I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare....while I was still searching but not finding, I found one upright man amidst a thousand but not one upright woman among them all" (Ecclesiastes 7:26-28). In another percentage of the Hebrew creative writing of recognized artisti value which is found in the Catholic Bible we read: "No wickedness comes anyplace near the wickedness of a woman.....Sin begun with a woman and thanks to her we all must die" (Ecclesiasticus 25:19,24). Jewish Rabbis listed nine curses inflicted on women as a result of the Fall: "To the woman He gave nine curses and death: the burden of the blood of menstruation and the blood of virginity; the burden of pregnancy; the burden of childbirth; the burden of bringing up the children; her head is covered as one in mourning; she pierces her ear like a permanent slave or slave girl who serves her master; she is not to be believed as a witness; and after everything--death." 2 To the present day, orthodox Jewish men in their each day morning prayer recite "Blessed be God King of the universe that Thou has not made me a woman." The "A woman must learn in quietness and full submission. I don't permit a woman to instruct or to have authority over a man; she will have to be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (I Timothy 2:11-14). St. Tertullian was even more blunt than St. Paul, while he was talking to his 'best beloved sisters' in the faith, he said: 6 "Do you not recognise that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt feelings must of requisite live too. You are the Devil's gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the initial deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant sufficient to attack. You destroyed so effortlessly God's image, man. On account of your desert even the Son of God had to die." St. Augustine was faithful to the bequest of his predecessors, he wrote to a friend: "What is the divergence whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we ought to beware of in any woman......I fail to see what use woman may be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children." Centuries later, St. Thomas Aquinas still considered women as defective: "As regards the person nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active strength in the male seed have a tendancy to the production of a perfective likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active strength or from a great deal of material indisposition, or even from a lot of external influence." Finally, the widely known and esteemed reformer "If they become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that's why they are there" Again and again all women are denigrated because of the effigy of Eve the temptress, thanks to the Genesis account. To sum up, If we now turn our attention to what the Quran has to say in regards to women, we will soon realize that the Islamic conception of women is radically dissimilar from the Judaeo-Christian one. Let the Quran speak for itself: "For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient, for men and women who modest themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise-- For them all has Allah prepared forgiveness and outstanding reward" (33:35). "The believers, men and women, are protectors, one of another: they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil, they observe regular prayers, practise regular charity, and obey Allah and His Messenger. On them will Allah pour His Mercy: for Allah is Exalted in power, Wise" (9:71). "And their Lord answered them: Truly I will never cause to be lost the work of any of you, Be you a male or female, you are members one of another" (3:195). "Whoever works evil will not be requited but by the like thereof, and whoever works a righteous deed -whether man or woman- and is a believer- such will enter the Garden of bliss" (40:40). "Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to him/her we will give a new life that is good and pure, and we will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions" (16:97). It is clear that the Quranic view of women is no dissimilar than that of men "And Allah sets forth, As an example to those who believe, the wife of Pharaoh: Behold she said: 'O my lord build for me, in nearness to you, a mansion in the Garden, and save me from Pharaoh and his doings and save me from those who do wrong.' And Mary the daughter of Imran who guarded her chastity and We breathed into her body of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His revelations and was one of the devout" (66:11-13). 4. SHAMEFUL DAUGHTERS ? In fact, the divergence amongst the Biblical and the Quranic attitude towards the female sex starts as soon as a female is born. For example, the Bible states that "The birth of a daughter is a loss" (Ecclesiasticus 22:3). In contrast to this shocking statement, boys receive particular praise: "A man who educates his son will be the jealousy of his enemy." (Ecclesiasticus 30:3) Jewish Rabbis made it an obligation on Jewish men to give rise to offspring in order to propagate the race. At the same time, they did not hide their clear preference for male children : "It is well for those whose children are male but ill for those whose are female", A daughter is considered a painful burden, a potential source of shame to her father: "Your daughter is headstrong? Keep a sharp look-out that she does not make you the laughing stock of your enemies, the talk of the town, the object of mutual gossip, and put you to public shame" (Ecclesiasticus 42:11). "Keep a headstrong daughter beneath firm control, or she will abuse any indulgence she receives. Keep a rigorous watch on her shameless eye, do not be astonished if she disgraces you" (Ecclesiasticus 26:10-11). It was this very same idea of treating daughters as roots of shame that led the pagan Arabs, before the advent of Islam, to practice The Quran badly condemned this heinous practice: "When news is brought to one of them of the birth of a female child, his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief. With shame does he hide himself from his humans because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain her on contempt or inter her in the dust? Ah! what an evil they determine on?" (16:59). It has to be cited that this sinister crime would have never stopped in Arabia were it not for the power of the scathing terms the Quran applied to condemn this exercise (16:59, 43:17, 81:8-9). The Quran even mentions the gift of the female birth first: " To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He gives rise to what He wills. He bestows female children to whomever He wills and bestows male children to whomever He wills" (42:49). In order to wipe out all the traces of female infanticide in the nascent Muslim society, Prophet Muhammad promised those who were blessed with daughters of a great reward if they would fetch them up kindly: "He who is involved in bringing up daughters, and accords benevolent treatment towards them, they will be shelter for him versus Hell-Fire" (Bukhari and Muslim). "Whoever maintains two girls till they attain maturity, he and I will come on the Resurrection Day like this; and he joined his fingers" (Muslim).
The divergence among the Biblical and the Quranic conceptions of women is not fixed to the newly born female, it extends far beyond that. Let us compare their complex mental states towards a female attempting to learn her religion. The heart of Judaism is the Torah, the law. However, according to the Talmud, Some Jewish Rabbis with resolute determination declared "Let the words of Torah rather be destroyed by fire than imparted to women", and "Whoever teaches his daughter Torah is as though he taught her obscenity"8 The attitude of St. Paul in the New Testament is not brighter: "As in all the congregations of the saints, women ought to stay silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission as the law says. If they want to inquire with regards to something, they must ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35) How may a woman learn if she is not permitted to speak? How may a woman grow intellectually if she is obliged to be in a state of full submission? How may she broaden her horizons if her one and only source of info is her husband at home? Now, to be fair, we must ask: is the Quranic position any different? One short story narrated in the Quran sums it is position up concisely. Khawlah was a Muslim woman whose husband Aws pronounced this statement at a moment of anger: "You are to me as the back of my mother." This was kept by pagan Arabs to be a statement of divorce which freed the husband from any conjugal obligation but did not leave the wife free to leave the husband's home or to marry another man. Having heard these words from her husband, Khawlah was in a miserable situation. She went straight to the Prophet of Islam to plead her case. The Prophet was of the opinion that she ought to be patient since there seemed to be no way out. Khawla held arguing with the Prophet in an undertake to save her suspended marriage. Shortly, the Quran intervened; Khawla's plea was accepted. The divine verdict abolished this iniquitous custom. One full chapter (Chapter 58) of the Quran whose title is "Almujadilah" or "The woman who is arguing" was named after this incident: "Allah has heard and accepted the statement of the woman who pleads with you (the Prophet) concerning her husband and carries her complaint to Allah, and Allah hears the arguments amongst both of you for Allah hears and sees all things...." (58:1). A woman in the Quranic conception has the right to argue even with the Prophet of Islam himself. No one has the right to instruct her to be silent. She is beneath no obligation to consider her husband the one and only reference in matters of law and religion. 6. UNCLEAN IMPURE WOMAN ? Jewish laws and regulatings concerning menstruating women are exceedingly restrictive. The Old Testament considers any menstruating woman as unclean and impure. Moreover, her impurity "infects" others as well. Anyone or anything she touches becomes unclean for a day: "When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her on a monthly basis amount of time will last seven days, and any person who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on for the duration of her amount of time will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed will have to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on will have to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when any person touches it, he will be unclean till evening" (Lev. 15:19-23). Due to her "contaminating" nature, a menstruating woman was at times "banished" in order to keep out of the way of any possibleness of any contact with her. She was sent to a particular house called "the house of uncleanness" for the whole amount of time of her impurity. 9 The Talmud considers a menstruating woman "fatal" even without any physical contact: "Our Rabbis taught:....if a menstruant woman passes amongst two (men), if it is at the beginning of her menses she will slay one of them, and if it is at the end of her menses she will cause strife amidst them" (bPes. 111a.) Furthermore, the husband of a menstruous woman was forbidden to enter the synagogue if he had been made unclean by her even by the dust underneath her feet. A priest whose wife, daughter, or mother was menstruating could not recite priestly benediction in the synagogue. 10 No wonder galore Jewish women still refer to menstruation as "the curse." 11 Islam does not consider a menstruating woman to possess any kind of "contagious uncleanness". She is neither "untouchable" nor "cursed." She practises her normal life with only one restriction: A married couple are not permitted to have sexual intercourse for the duration of the amount of time of menstruation. Any other physical contact amid them is permissible. A menstruating woman is exempted from galore rituals such as each day prayers and fasting for the duration of her period. 7. BEARING WITNESS Another issue in which the Quran and the Bible disagree is the issue of women bearing witness. It is true that the Quran has instructed the believers dealing in financial dealings to get two male witnesses or one male and two females (2:282). However, it is likewise true that the Quran in other situations accepts the testimony of a woman as equivalent to that of a man. In fact the woman's testimony may even invalidate the man's. If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, he is required by the Quran to solemnly swear five times as proof of the wife's guilt. If the wife denies and swears likewise five times, she is not considered guilty and in either case the marriage is dissolved (24:6-11). On the other hand, women were not permitted to bear witness in early Jewish society. 12 The Rabbis counted women's not being competent to bear witness amongst the nine curses inflicted upon all women because of the Fall (see the "Eve's Legacy" section). Women in today's Israel are not permitted to give proof in Rabbinical courts. 13 The Rabbis warrant why women can not bear witness by citing Genesis 18:9-16, where it is stated that Sara, Abraham's wife had lied. The Rabbis use this incident as proof that women are unqualified to bear witness. It ought to be noted here that this story narrated in Genesis 18:9-16 has been brought up more than once in the Quran without any hint of any lies by Sara (11:69-74, 51:24-30). In the Christian West, both ecclesiastical and civil law debarred women from giving testimony until late last century. 14 If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, her testimony will not be considered at all according to the Bible. The accused wife has to be subjected to a trial by ordeal. In this trial, the wife faces a complex and humiliating ritual which was supposed to prove her guilt feelings or innocence (Num. 5:11-31). If she is found guilty after this ordeal, she will be sentenced to death. If she is found not guilty, her husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing. Besides, if a man takes a woman as a wife and then accuses her of not being a virgin, her own testimony will not count. Her parents had to fetch proof of her virginity before the elders of the town. If the parents could not prove the innocence of their daughter, she would be stoned to death on her father's doorsteps. If the parents were competent to prove her innocence, the husband would only be fined one hundred shekels of silver and he could not divorce his wife as long as he lived: "If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, disapprovals her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, 'I married this woman, but when I neared her, I did not find proof of her virginity,' then the girl's father and mother shall fetch proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he disapprovals her. Now he has slandered her and said I did not find your daughter to be a virgin. But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity.' Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and inflict punishment on him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall carry on to be his wife; he ought to not divorce her as long as he lives. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity may be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of the town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You ought to purge the evil from amidst you." (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
Adultery is considered a sin in all religions. The Bible decrees the death sentence for both the adulterer and the adulteress (Lev. 20:10). Islam also evenly punishes both the adulterer and the adulteress (24:2). However, the Quranic definition of adultery is very dissimilar from the Biblical definition. Adultery, according to the Quran, is the involvement of a married man or a married woman in an extramarital affair. The Bible only considers the extramarital affair of a married woman as adultery (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22, Proverbs 6:20-7:27). "If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman ought to die. You ought to purge the evil from Israel" (Deut. 22:22). "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife both the adulterer and the adulteress ought to be put to death" (Lev. 20:10). According to the Biblical definition, if a married man sleeps with an unmarried woman, this is not considered a crime at all. The married man who has extramarital affairs with unmarried women is not an adulterer and the unmarried women involved with him are not adulteresses. The crime of adultery is devoted only when a man, whether married or single, sleeps with a married woman. In this case the man is considered adulterer, even if he is not married, and the woman is considered adulteress. In short, adultery is any illicit sexual intercourse involving a married woman. The extramarital affair of a married man is not per se a crime in the Bible. Why is the dual moral standard? According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, the wife was considered to be the husband's possession and adultery constituted a violation of the husband's exclusive right to her; the wife as the husband's possession had no such right to him. 15 That is, if a man had sexual intercourse with a married woman, he would be violating the property of another man and, thus, he must be punished. To the present day in Israel, if a married man indulges in an extramarital affair with an unmarried woman, his children by that woman are considered legitimate. But, if a married woman has an affair with another man, whether married or not married, her children by that man are not only illegitimate but they are considered bastards and are forbidden to marry any other Jews except converts and other bastards. This ban is handed down to the children's descendants for 10 generations until the contaminate of adultery is presumably weakened. 16 The Quran, on the other hand, never considers any woman to be the possession of any man. The Quran eloquently describes the kinship amongst the spouses by saying: " And amid His signs is that He formulated for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquillity with them and He has put love and mercy amongst your hearts: verily in that are signs for those who reflect" (30:21). This is the Quranic conception of marriage: love, mercy, and tranquillity, not possession and double standards. 9. VOWS According to the Bible, a man must fulfil any vows he might make to God. He must not break his word. On the other hand, a woman's vow is not inevitably binding on her. It has to be approved by her father, if she is living in his house, or by her husband, if she is married. If a father/husband does not endorse his daughter's/wife's vows, all pledges made by her become null and void: "But if her father forbids her when he hears with regards to it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand ....Her husband may assert or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself" (Num. 30:2-15) Why is it that a woman's word is not binding per se ? The answer is simple: because she is owned by her father, before marriage, or by her husband after marriage. The father's control over his daughter was sheer to the extent that, must he wish, he could trade her! It is conveyed in the writings of the Rabbis that: "The man may trade his daughter, but the woman may not trade her daughter; the man may betroth his daughter, but the woman may not betroth her daughter." 17 The Rabbinic creative writing of recognized artisti value also gives evidence of that marriage represents the transfer of control from the father to the husband: "betrothal, making a woman the sacrosanct possession--the inviolable property-- of the husband..." Obviously, if the woman is considered to be the property of an individual else, she can not make any pledges that her owner does not approve of. It is of interest to note that this Biblical instruction concerning women's vows has had negative repercussions on Judaeo-Christian women till early in this century. A married woman in the Western world had no legal status. No act of hers was of any legal value. Her husband could repudiate any contract, bargain, or deal she had made. Women in the West (the biggest heir of the Judaeo-Christian legacy) were held unable to make a binding contract because they were practically owned by an individual else. Western women had suffered for almost two thousand years because of the Biblical attitude towards women's position vis-à-vis their fathers and husbands. 18 In Islam, the vow of each Muslim, male or female, is binding on him/her. No one has the power to repudiate the pledges of any person else. Failure to keep a solemn oath, made by a man or a woman, has to be expiated as conveyed in the Quran: "He [God] will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation, feed ten indigent persons, on a scale of the intermediate for the feed of your families; Or clothe them; or give a slave his freedom. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths you have sworn. But keep your oaths" (5:89). Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, men and women, employed to present their oath of allegiance to him personally. Women, as well as men, would independently come to him and pledge their oaths: "O Prophet, When believing women come to you to make a covenant with you that they will not associate in worship anything with God, nor steal, nor fornicate, nor kill their own children, nor slander anyone, nor disobey you in any just matter, then make a covenant with them and pray to God for the forgiveness of their sins. Indeed God is Forgiving and most Merciful" (60:12). A man could not swear the oath on behalf of his daughter or his wife. Nor could a man repudiate the oath made by any of his female relatives. 10. WIFE'S PROPERTY The three religions portion an unshakeable faith in the importance of marriage and family life. They also agree on the leadership of the husband over the family. Nevertheless, blatant deviations do subsist among the three religions with respect to the limits of this leadership. The Judaeo-Christian tradition, different from Islam, almost extends the leadership of the husband into ownership of his wife. The Jewish tradition when it comes to the husband's role towards his wife stems from the conception that he owns her as he owns his slave. 19 This conception has been the reason behind the double standard in the laws of adultery and behind the husband's capacity to annul his wife's vows. This conception has also been responsible for denying the wife any control over her property or her earnings. As soon as a Jewish woman got married, she exclusively lost any control over her property and net profit to her husband. Jewish Rabbis asserted the husband's right to his wife's property as a corollary of his possession of her: "Since one has come into the possession of the woman does it not follow that he will have to come into the possession of her property too?", and "Since he has acquired the woman must he not acquire likewise her property?" 20 Thus, marriage caused the richest woman to become practically penniless. The Talmud describes the financial circumstance of a wife as follows: "How may a woman have anything; whatsoever is hers belongs to her husband? What is his is his and what is hers is likewise his...... Her net profit and what she may find in the streets are likewise his. The household articles, even the crumbs of bread on the table, are his. Should she invite a guest to her house and feed him, she would be stealing from her husband..." (San. 71a, Git. 62a) The fact of the matter is that the property of a Jewish female was meant to attract suitors. A Jewish family would assign their daughter a portion of her father's estate to be applied as a dowry in case of marriage. It was this dowry that made Jewish daughters an unwelcome burden to their fathers. The father had to raise his daughter for years and then prepare for her marriage by supplying a big dowry. Thus, a girl in a Jewish family was a liability and no asset. 21 This liability explains why the birth of a daughter was not celebrated with joy in the old Jewish society (see the "Shameful Daughters?" section). The dowry was the wedding gift staged to the groom underneath terms of tenancy. The husband would act as the practical proprietor of the dowry but he could not trade it. The bride would lose any control over the dowry at the moment of marriage. Moreover, she was expected to work after marriage and all her net profit had to go to her husband in return for her maintenance which was his obligation. She could regain her property only in two cases: divorce or her husband's death. Should she die first, he would inherit her property. In the case of the husband's death, the wife could regain her pre-marital property but she was not entitled to inherit any percentage in her deceased husband's own property. It has to be added that the groom likewise had to present a marriage gift to his bride, yet again he was the practical proprietor of this gift as long as they were married. 22 Christianity, until recently, has followed the same Jewish tradition. Both religious and civil authorities in the Christian Roman Empire (after Constantine) required a property agreement as a condition for recognizing the marriage. Families offered their daughters increasing dowries and, as a result, men tended to marry earlier while families postponed their daughters' marriages until later than had been customary. 23 Under Canon law, a wife was entitled to restitution of her dowry if the marriage was annulled unless she was guilty of adultery. In this case, she forfeited her right to the dowry which remained in her husband's hands. 24 Under Canon and civil law a married woman in Christian Europe and America had lost her property rights until late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For example, women's rights under English law were compiled and published in 1632. These 'rights' included: "That which the husband hath is his own. That which the wife hath is the husband's." 25 The wife not only lost her property upon marriage, she lost her personality as well. No act of her was of legal value. Her husband could repudiate any sale or gift made by her as being of no binding legal value. The person with whom she had any contract was kept as a criminal for taking part in a fraud. Moreover, she could not sue or be sued in her own name, nor could she sue her own husband. 26 A married woman was practically treated as an infant in the eyes of the law. The wife merely belonged to her husband and hence she lost her property, her legal personality, and her family name. 27 Islam, since the seventh century C.E., has granted married women the independent personality which the Judaeo-Christian West had deprived them until very recently. In Islam, the bride and her family are beneath no obligation whatsoever to present a gift to the groom. The girl in a Muslim family is no liability. A woman is so dignified by Islam that she does not need to present gifts in order to attract potential husbands. It is the groom who will have to present the bride with a marriage gift. This gift is considered her property and neither the groom nor the bride's family have any part in or control over it. In a lot of Muslim societies today, a marriage gift of a hundred thousand dollars in diamonds is not unusual. 28 The bride retains her marriage gifts even if she is later divorced. The husband is not permitted any percentage in his wife's property except what she offers him with her free consent. 29 The Quran has stated it is position on this issue rather clearly: "And give the women (on marriage) their dower as a free gift; but if they, Of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, take it and take delight in it with right good cheer" (4:4) The wife's property and net profit are underneath her full control and for her use alone since her, and the children's, maintenance is her husband's responsibility. 30 No matter how rich the wife might be, she is not obliged to act as a co-provider for the family unless she herself voluntarily chooses to do so. Spouses do inherit from one another. Moreover, a married woman in Islam retains her independent legal personality and her family name. 31 An American judge once commented on the rights of Muslim women saying: " A Muslim girl may marry ten times, but her individuality is not absorbed by that of her respective husbands. She is a solar planet with a name and legal personality of her own." 32 11. DIVORCE The three religions have noteworthy deviations in their complex mental states towards divorce. Christianity abhors divorce altogether. The New Testament unequivocally advocates the indissolubility of marriage. It is attributed to Jesus to have said, "But I tell you that any individual who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become adulteress, and any individual who marries the divorced woman commits adultery" (Matthew 5:32). This uncompromising idealisti is, without a doubt, unrealistic. It assumes a state of moral perfection that humane societies have never achieved. When a couple realizes that their married life is beyond repair, a ban on divorce will not do them any good. Forcing ill-mated couples to stay together versus their wills is neither effective nor reasonable. No wonder the whole Christian world has been obliged to sanction divorce. Judaism, on the other hand, allows divorce even without any cause. The Old Testament gives the husband the right to divorce his wife even if he just disapprovals her: "If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent when it comes to her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband disapprovals her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her initial husband, who divorced her, is not permitted to marry her again after she has been defiled" (Deut. 24:1-4). The above verses have caused galore significant debate amidst Jewish scholars because of their disagreement over the interpretation of the words "displeasing", "indecency", and "dislikes" brought up in the verses. The Talmud records their dissimilar opinions: "The school of Shammai held that a man will have to not divorce his wife unless he has found her guilty of a lot of sexual misconduct, while the school of Hillel say he may divorce her even if she has plainly spoiled a dish for him. Rabbi Akiba says he may divorce her even if he merely finds another woman more pretty than she" (Gittin 90a-b). The New Testament follows the Shammaites opinion while Jewish law has followed the opinion of the Hillelites and R. Akiba. 33 Since the Hillelites view prevailed, it became the unbroken tradition of Jewish law to give the husband freedom to divorce his wife without any cause at all. The Old Testament not only gives the husband the right to divorce his "displeasing" wife, it considers divorcing a "bad wife" an obligation: "A bad wife brings humiliation, downcast looks, and a wounded heart. Slack of hand and weak of knee is the man whose wife fails to make him happy. Woman is the origin of sin, and it is through her that we all die. Do not leave a leaky cistern to drip or concede a bad wife to say what she likes. If she does not receive your control, divorce her and send her away" (Ecclesiasticus 25:25). The Talmud has recorded assorted specific actions by wives which obliged their husbands to divorce them: "If she ate in the street, if she drank greedily in the street, if she suckled in the street, in each case Rabbi Meir says that she must leave her husband" (Git. 89a). The Talmud has also made it mandatory to divorce a barren wife (who bore no children in a amount of time of ten years): "Our Rabbis taught: If a man took a wife and lived with her for ten years and she bore no child, he shall divorce her" (Yeb. 64a). Wives, on the other hand, cannot initiate divorce under Jewish law. A Jewish wife, however, could assert the right to a divorce before a Jewish court provided that a strong reason exists. Very few grounds are provided for the wife to make a assert for a divorce. These grounds include: A husband with physical defects or skin disease, a husband not fulfilling his conjugal responsibilities, Islam occupies the middle ground amongst Christianity and Judaism with respect to divorce. Marriage in Islam is a sanctified bond that must not be broken except for compelling reasons. Couples are instructed to pursue all possible remedies whenever their marriages are in danger. Divorce is not to be resorted to except when there is no other way out. In a nutshell, Islam recognizes divorce, yet it discourages it by all means. Let us focus on the acknowledgement side first. Islam does recognize the right of both collaborators to end their matrimonial relationship. Islam gives the husband the right for Talaq (divorce). Moreover, Islam, different from Judaism, grants the wife the right to dissolve the marriage through what is known as Khula'. 36 If the husband dissolves the marriage by divorcing his wife, he cannot retrieve any of the marriage gifts he has given her. The Quran explicitly prohibits the divorcing husbands from taking back their marriage gifts no matter how pricey or priceless these gifts might be: "But if you determine to take one wife in place of another, even if you had given the latter a whole treasure for dower, take not the least bit of it back; Would you take it by slander and a manifest wrong?" (4:20). In the case of the wife choosing to end the marriage, she may return the marriage gifts to her husband. Returning the marriage gifts in this case is a reasonable compensation for the husband who is keen to keep his wife while she chooses to leave him. The Quran has instructed Muslim men not to take back any of the gifts they have given to their wives except in the case of the wife choosing to dissolve the marriage: "It is not rightful for you (Men) to take back any of your gifts except when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by Allah. There is no blame on either of them if she give something for her freedom. These are the limits ordained by Allah so do not transgress them" (2:229). Also, a woman came to the Prophet Muhammad seeking the dissolution of her marriage, she told the Prophet that she did not have any complaints versus her husband's reputation or manners. Her only problem was that she candidly did not like him to the extent of not being competent to live with him any longer. The Prophet asked her: "Would you give him his garden (the marriage gift he had given her) back?" she said: "Yes". The Prophet then instructed the man to take back his garden and receive the dissolution of the marriage (Bukhari). In numerous cases, A Muslim wife might be more than willing to keep her marriage but find herself obliged to assert for a divorce because of a great deal of compelling reasons such as: Cruelty of the husband, desertion without a reason, a husband not fulfilling his conjugal responsibilities, In short, Islam has offered the Muslim woman a lot of unequalled rights: she may end the marriage through Khula' and she may sue for a divorce. A Muslim wife may never become chained by a recalcitrant husband. It was these rights that enticed Jewish women who lived in the early Islamic societies of the seventh century C.E. to seek to obtain bills of divorce from their Jewish husbands in Muslim courts. The Rabbis declared these bills null and void. In order to end this practice, the Rabbis gave new rights and privileges to Jewish women in an undertake to weaken the appeal of the Muslim courts. Jewish women living in Christian countries were not offered any similar privileges since the Roman law of divorce practiced there was no more beautiful than the Jewish law. 38 Let us now focus our attention on how Islam discourages divorce. The Prophet of Islam told the believers that: "among all the permitted acts, divorce is the most hateful to God" (Abu Dawood). A Muslim man must not divorce his wife just because he disapprovals her. The Quran instructs Muslim men to be kind to their wives even in cases of lukewarm emotions or sensations of dislike: "Live with them (your wives) on a footing of benignancy and equity. If you dislike them it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed a outstanding deal of good" (4:19). Prophet Muhammad gave a similar instruction: " A believing man will have to not hate a believing woman. If he disapprovals one of her traits he will be pleased with another" (Muslim). The Prophet has likewise emphasized that the best Muslims are those who are best to their wives: "The believers who show the most perfective faith are those who have the best reputation and the best of you are those who are best to their wives" (Tirmidthi). However, Islam is a practical religion and it does recognize that there are circumstances in which a marriage becomes on the verge of collapsing. In such cases, a mere counsel of benignancy or self restraint is no viable solution. So, what to do in order to save a marriage in these cases? The Quran offers some practical counsel for the spouse (husband or wife) whose collaborator (wife or husband) is the wrongdoer. For the husband whose wife's ill-conduct is threatening the marriage, the Quran gives four types of counsel as elaborated in the following verses: "As to those women on whose portion you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, (1) Admonish them, (2) refuse to share their beds, (3) beat them; but if they return to obeisance seek not versus them means of annoyance: For Allah is Most High, Great. (4) If you fear a break amid them, appoint two arbiters, one from his family and the other from hers; If they wish for peace, Allah will cause their reconciliation" (4:34-35). The primary three are to be tried first. If they fail, then the help of the families concerned must be sought. It has to be noted, in the light of the above verses, that beating the rebellious wife is a temporary measure that is resorted to as third in line in cases of extreme requirement in hopes that it might remedy the wrongdoing of the wife. If it does, the husband is not permitted by any means to carry on any annoyance to the wife as explicitly brought up in the verse. If it does not, the husband is still not permitted to use this measure any longer and the final boulevard of the family-assisted reconciliation has to be explored. Prophet Muhammad has instructed Muslim husbands that they ought to not have recourse to these measures except in uttermost cases such as open lewdness devoted by the wife. Even in these cases the punishment must be slight and if the wife desists, the husband is not permitted to irritate her: "In case they are guilty of open lewdness you may leave them alone in their beds and inflict slight punishment. If they are obedient to you, do not seek versus them any means of annoyance" (Tirmidthi) Furthermore, the Prophet of Islam has condemned any unjustifiable beating. Some Muslim wives complained to him that their husbands had beaten them. Hearing that, the Prophet categorically stated that: "Those who do so (beat their wives) are not the best among you" (Abu Dawood). It has to be remembered at this point that the Prophet has also said: "The best of you is he who is best to his family, and I am the best amidst you to my family" (Tirmidthi). The Prophet advised one Muslim woman, whose name was Fatimah bint Qais, not to marry a man because the man was known for beating women: "I went to the Prophet and said: Abul Jahm and Mu'awiah have proposed to marry me. The Prophet (by way of advice) said: As to Mu'awiah he is very poor and Abul Jahm is accustomed to beating women" (Muslim). It has to be noted that the Talmud sanctions wife beating as chastisement for the intent of discipline. 39 The husband is not restricted to the uttermost cases such as those of open lewdness. He is permitted to beat his wife even if she just refuses to do her house work. Moreover, he is not fixed only to the use of light punishment. He is permitted to break his wife's stubbornness by the lash or by starving her. 40 For the wife whose husband's ill-conduct is the cause for the marriage's near collapse, the Quran offers the following advice: "If a wife fears remorseless cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement amid themselves; and such settlement is best" (4:128). In this case, the wife is advised to seek reconciliation with her husband (with or without family assistance). It is remarkable that the Quran is not advising the wife to resort to the two measures of abstention from sex and beating. The reason for this disparity might be to protect the wife from a violent physical reaction by her already misbehaving husband. Such a violent physical reaction will do both the wife and the marriage more hurt than good. Some Muslim scholars have suggested that the court may employ these measures versus the husband on the wife's behalf. That is, the court primary admonishes the rebellious husband, then forbids him his wife's bed, and in the long run executes a symbolic beating. 41 To sum up, Islam offers Muslim married couples much viable counsel to save their marriages in cases of trouble and tension. If one of the collaborators is jeopardizing the matrimonial relationship, the other collaborator is advised by the Quran to do whatsoever possible and effective in order to save this sacred bond. If all the measures fail, Islam allows the collaborators to discerned peacefully and amicably. 12. MOTHERS The Old Testament in various places commands kind and considerate treatment of the parents and condemns those who dishonor them. For example, "If anybody curses his father or mother, he will have to be put to death" (Lev. 20:9) and "A wise man brings joy to his father but a absurd man despises his mother" (Proverbs 15:20). Although honoring the father alone is brought up in numerous places, e.g. "A wise man heeds his father's instruction" (Proverbs 13:1), the mother alone is never mentioned. Moreover, there is no special special importance and significance on treating the mother kindly as a sign of appreciation of her outstanding suffering in childbearing and suckling. Besides, mothers do not inherit at all from their children while fathers do. 42 It is difficult to speak of the New Testament as a scripture that calls for honoring the mother. To the contrary, "If anybody comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he may not be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). Furthermore, the "Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone to call him. A crowd was sitting around him and they told him, 'Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.' 'Who are my mother and my brothers?' he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said,' Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.' " (Mark 3:31-35) One might argue that Jesus was attempting to instruct his audience an essential lesson that religious ties are no less crucial than family ties. However, "As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, 'Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.' He replied, 'Blessed rather are those who listen the word of God and obey it.' " (Luke 11:27-28) If a mother with the stature of the virgin Mary had been treated with such discourtesy, as depicted in the New Testament, by a son of the stature of Jesus Christ, then how will have to an intermediate Christian mother be treated by her intermediate Christian sons? In Islam, the honor, respect, and respect attached to motherhood is unparalleled. "Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, And that you be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, Say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, But address them in terms of honor. And out of kindness, Lower to them the wing of humility, and say: 'My Lord! bestow on them Your Mercy as they Cherished me in childhood' " (17:23-24). The Quran in various other places puts particular special and significant stress on the mother's great role in giving birth and nursing: "And We have enjoined on man to be good to his parents: In travail upon travail did his mother bear him and in two years was his weaning. Show gratitude to Me and to your parents" (31:14). The very special place of mothers in Islam has been eloquently described by Prophet Muhammad: "A man asked the Prophet: 'Whom will have to I honor most?' The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother!'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your father'" (Bukhari and Muslim). Among the few precepts of Islam which Muslims still in a faithful manner observe to the present day is the considerate treatment of mothers. The honor that Muslim mothers receive from their sons and daughters is exemplary. The intensely warm relations among Muslim mothers and their children and the deep respect with which Muslim men approach their mothers commonly amaze Westerners. 43 13. FEMALE INHERITANCE One of the most crucial deviations among the Quran and the Bible is their attitude towards female inheritance of the property of a deceased relative. The Biblical attitude has been succinctly described by Rabbi Epstein: "The continuous and unbroken tradition since the Biblical days gives the female members of the household, wife and daughters, no right of succession to the family estate. In the more primitive scheme of succession, the female members of the family were considered percentage of the estate and as remote from the legal personality of an heir as the slave. Whereas by Mosaic enactment the daughters were admitted to succession in the event of no male issue remained, the wife was not recognized as heir even in such conditions." 44 Why were the female members of the family considered share of the family estate? Rabbi Epstein has the answer: The Biblical rules of inheritance are outlined in
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