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.
Hoi Polloi says
“Save for Khadija, convincing evidence, for or against women inheriting property before Islam arrived, has not been found.” A convenient matter for a religion bent on destroying other cultures, along with any evidence of its lies about other cultures.
Raymond Bullock says
No mention of weife beating or raping female women taken as booty.
tim gallagher says
islam is a primitive, totally misogynistic load of barbaric garbage. A person would have to be insane to believe that islam has been in any way beneficial for women and girls. Then again, it has been a nightmare for humanity in general with its endless and murderous attitude of hatred towards all people who are not part of the hideous, evil cult.
libertyORdeath says
This one is easy.
Look at Muslim women from the dawn of photography.
Then look at Muslim women in Westernized countries.
Then look at Muslim women in Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan and compare the three.
Seems pretty easy.
SC says
It’s improved their lot, in tbe same way a quick glance over her shoulder improved Lots wife’s lot.
abu taleb says
Islam says that men should not take back what has been given to their wives when they divorce the women. This is what muslims are proud of, a proof that Islam has improved women life. Another proof is that men should treat their wives well by providing food to their wives.
For most people, what Islam says above are just very basic virtue of being good, nothing special. So, what Islam teaches about being good is very shallow, almost nothing. On the other hand, the evil magnitude of Islamic teaching is very big.
"J.T." says
“Men should treat their wives well by feeding them “? That’s proof that Islam improves women’s lives? Don’t make me laugh, pal!
Every decent man of any faith or none does that much!
What of Islam’s disgusting ? disregard and disrespect for women through multiple marriages and temporary marriages with whores and even sheep? Yes, SHEEP!
What about men beating their wives “from whom they fear disobedience”? Come ON!
Mick says
Algeria Population
1800 2.5 m
1920 5 m
2024 46 m
As Zemmour says: French built hospitals triggered the pop explosion by reducing infant mortality from 00s per 000 to 10s.
The unsustainable numbers caused 2 civil wars, the expulsion of colons and Jews and a mass exodus of Muslims.
Islam (both the anti colonial ‘Brotherhood’ of the 20s to 60s and wahhabi of the 80s) is a secondary issue.
Troybeam says
The only way to improve a Muslim woman’s life is to eradicate Islam. No more restrictions on how to dress, no more leaving the house without male escort, being able to get an education. So many positives in getting rid of Islam, safer for humanity too.
Nabil Bissada says
Islam is a devilish religion against the Muslims women 100%.
Few examples for a Muslims Women from her first day old in Islam according to the Koran and the sharia law:
Half of men as a witness in court and heritance (two women=one man)
Minor than the men by the way she is thinking and in faith.
Equal for the black dog, donkey and evil.
Muslims men have the rights to beat his wife and to have up to four wives.
Muslims men have the rights to have oral sex with no penetration with infant babies from three months to up.
Muslims men have the rights to have a farewell sex with his dead women in her first six hours.
If she is sitting by herself in a room. She must nurse from her breast the man who walk in. By this way he become as her son and cannot have sex relation with her.
The mother-in-law have the rights to have sex (love) with her son in law, if her daughter feels tired and her husband wants to have sex with her. (Muslims do not use the word love but sex)
Muslim son can have sex with his widow mother in one condition to cover his privacy.
Muslim man who has a daughter out of a legal marriage with the mother he has the right to marry his daughter.
….