Men and women in Islam:
The great unmentionable evil at the center of our
culture is monotheism. From a barbaric Bronze Age
text known as the Old Testament, three anti-human
religions have evolved - Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam. These are sky-god religions. They are, literally,
patriarchal - God is the Omnipotent Father - hence
the loathing of women for 2,000 years in those
countries afflicted by the sky-god and his earthly male delegates
.
Gore Vidal
It is safe to say that religion in general was designed to best serve men's best interests, knowing that the concept of a supreme entity was at the beginning of mankind nothing more than a question mark over what human's couldn't grasp and comprehend from natural phenomenon to vast yet unexplained environment that surrounded them, such as the sun the moon the stars, ignorance being the common theme of those dark and old ages, when humans thought the earth was flat, they started to imagine superior entities that hold a cataclysmic power that can either reform their quality of life and bless them with more food when they go out to hunt or farm, or punish them for their sins.
Of course, at those ages it was men who did most of the out door activities, so they were considered the providers of food and so forth, therefore claiming their right to become leaders of every thing else, and being at the top of the food chain. It was the very same ego that made men conceive of such an entity, the idea of a God has been present since the beginning of time, and one God failed after another as science proved that such being has no room in our universe
In an Arab country, only a man would have the courage to alert the most desperate and the ignorant about the existence of a God that gave that very same person the burden of delivering his message to those who seek refuge from the dark ages and all the injustice and intolerance that comes with it. So as he progressed with his revelations about his newly conceived God, he told the desperate ones exactly what they needed to hear from a savior.
Now taking that in to account, I believe that when Mohammad came up with laws, and limits for his new religion he made those laws to best serve his gender, and yet to preserve a balance that would not create conflict, therefore Mohammad had given men the right to claim higher and sensitive positions in the government, the kind of positions that would give men a stronger leadership mainly over countries, armies, estate, fortune, and women and so on. The same principle has been adopted by prophets even before Mohammad.
"And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course".
Women Sura, Verse 3.
In the Women Sura Above, Mohammad claims that God has given women their rights, therefore he allows men to marry up to 4 women at the same time or in total, but compared to our modern age, in most European nations and in the United States of America it's against the law to marry more than one woman, simply because a man would be disrespecting a woman by seeing her as his sexual pleasure provider or a slave rather than a human being with an individual personality with equal rights as her fellow man. Even in third world nations Muslim women who had their fare share of education do not approve of getting married to a man who is already married because they find it disrespectful to them, If it's the word of God that allows a man to marry up to 4 women at the same time, then why do most women disapprove it?,
In one verse God says that men should treat women as equal partners, and in another verse he says that men should have leadership over women, the contradiction is perfectly obvious. If we take a good look at the time scales of human history right from the Stone Age to the modern age, we can see the transitioning of women's role in society. At the time when muscle power ruled, women were over powered and enslaved by men. Simply because men had more muscle power, as time progressed and humans became more intelligent man started to recognize a woman's potential, and up to this date women are discovered to be as equally intelligent as man.
It is safe to say that Mohammad failed to see the progressing of woman's intellectual power, and he kept her as a less equal partner to men, depriving her from reaching high ranks in society this reaching her full potential, prioritizing her duties to her home, and obligating her to obey her husband at all times, for example, a wife can't visit her father even if he's in his death bed, unless her husband permits her. The only logical explanation to this is, that times were different when Mohammad claimed his prophecy, and women at that time didn't play a large role in their society as they do now a days.
Then again in another verse from the Holly Qura'an says:
"Allah enjoins you concerning your children: the male shall have the equal of the portion of two females; then if they are more than two females, they shall have two-thirds of what the deceased has left".
Women Sura, Verse 11
I don't think there is much to explain as the verse very simply explains it self, Now I do believe that Mohammad preached about women being an equal to men, the question is, Then why doesn't he permit a woman to have an equal share as a man would?
Well, it doesn't require a rocket scientist to figure out that there has been injustice and sexual discrimination committed here. Ask your self this: "If a god did really exist, who claims to give women their rights and claims that women are equal to men and should have the same rights given to men, would that same god give a woman half of what man gets from an inheritance rather than giving her full share?"
It gets even uglier now as you read the following verse that contradicts with the whole concept that Islam claims to be built on (which equal rights between men and women):
"Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great".
Women Sura Verse 34
Now logic flies right out of the window, and it appears that God is not making any sense, one minute he's saying that women are equal to men, now he's saying that he created men as superior to women, or let me put that as god would put it "because Allah has made some of them to excel others" , to top it all off, God gave man permission to beat and abuse his wife “and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them” I don’t have Ph.D. in any field of social studies, but i do know that i doesn’t take a Ph.D. to know that this is the way to treat a slave, a lot of men get restraining orders and go to jail for years for abusing their wives, But God permits it
When Muslim men go to heaven, they have all the beautiful women that even their wildest imagination can't imagine their beauty, in the other hand, the Qura'an never mentions what's in store for a Muslim woman when she's in heaven. Is it because God believes that women shouldn't know what awaits them in the other life? Or is it simply because God doesn't think it's that important?
Despite all this, I can't get over one thought that keeps ringing in my mind which is; Why does god always refer to him self as "He"? Is he male? Let's look at this in a good logical way. Supposing that god is male, that means that he has a male's reproductive organs. Just to explain what I'm trying to say here, I want you to read the following verse:
"Say: He, Allah, is One (1) Allah is He on Whom all depend (2) He begets not, nor is He begotten (3) And none is like Him (4)"
The Unity Sura Verses 1, 2, 3, and 4
In this verse God claims that he wasn't given birth nor did he have given birth. So now if God is male, and he has a male's reproductive organs, then they would be useless because there would be no female of his kind to have a sexual intercourse with, and it purely makes no sense because he just said in his Qura'an as illustrated in the previous verse that he is "One", "and none is like Him". So what is the point of being a male if you can't perform a male's natural role?
Let's just face the simple and crystal clear facts, it was not God who created man in his image, it was man who created God in his own image. Therefore man puts all his attributes in to his god, because men are always struggling for more power, most men wish to be Gods so it is very typical that man would imagine a god in his image.
In third world nations a man expresses his manhood through abusing women and displaying his strength and leadership to overpower and enslave women and keep them obedient to his wishes thus he becomes a mini God, or at least views him self as so. It is very traditional that men are far more superior to women in the Arab world, the less man abuses women, the more he feels like a woman.
Do we really need a God to tell us that women should be treated equally? When did humanity lose track of the sense of right or wrong, justice or injustice towards our equal partners "women"?
I believe that we should put our highly evolved brain in to good use, instead of wasting our time on an imaginary God, we should spend more time harmonizing the connection between men ad women, without pointing out at each other's differences, because there is no such thing as a superior sex, both genders can benefit from each other's knowledge and experience if both genders given equal opportunities to reach a higher potential.