To understand the behavior of Islam towards women, we need to comprehend the five aspects of Islam in women’s lives.
1. Hijab and Burqa –
2. Status of Women –
3. Permission for Beating Wives –
4. Right to Divorce –
5. Men’s Authority over Women –
6. Polygamy –
7. Sex slavery –
Let’s discuss the first issue…Hijab and Burqa
Islam states that women should always cover their private parts, but it does not specify what constitutes these private parts in our bodies. Therefore, in some places, it is necessary to cover the entire body, while in others, only parts of it.
What does Islam say about this? Let’s find out.
Quran (33:59) – “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies. That will be better, that they should be known so as not to be annoyed.” This is from the Noble Quran. The word ‘harmed’ or ‘hurt’ elsewhere in the same sura. How would a woman be ‘harmed’ for not covering herself? Let’s just say that Yusuf Ali translates it as ‘molested’ – as in a woman could bring sexual abuse on herself if she is not properly covered. Does this mean that Muslims did molest those women and girls who did not cover her bodies properly?
Sahih Bukhari (60:282) – When Muhammad commanded women to cover themselves (Quran 24:31), the women tore their sheets to cover their faces.
This proves that according to the Quran, Hadith, and Muhammad himself, women should observe modesty and cover their bodies completely. However, there is no such command for men. Men are instructed to lower their gaze, but they often fail to do even that.
“Now let’s talk about second issue, which is the status of women.”
Does Islam teach that a woman is worth less than a man?
Absolutely. The only debatable point is by what degree.
Quran (4:11) – (Inheritance) “The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females”
Quran (2:282) – (Court testimony) “And call to witness, from among your men, two witnesses. And if two men be not found then a man and two women.” Muslim apologists offer creative explanations to explain why Allah felt that a man’s testimony in court should be valued twice as highly as a woman’s, but studies consistently show that women are actually less likely to tell lies than men, meaning that they make more reliable witnesses.
Sahih Bukhari (6:301) – “[Muhammad] said, ‘Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?’ They replied in the affirmative. He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her intelligence.'”
Sahih Bukhari (2:28) & Sahih Bukhari (54:464) – Women comprise the majority of Hell’s occupants. This is important because the only women in heaven mentioned explicitly by Muhammad are the virgins who serve the sexual desires of men. (A weak Hadith, Kanz al-`ummal, 22:10, even suggests that 99% of women go to Hell).
A traditional Islamic saying is that, “A woman’s heaven is beneath her husband’s feet.” One of the world’s most respected Quran commentaries explains that, “Women are like cows, horses, and camels, for all are ridden.” (Tafsir al-Qurtubi v. 17, p. 172)
This is the status of women in Islam.
The third issue is “beating of wives “.
Does Islam allow a man to hit his wife?
Yes, but only if she does not obey him. If a woman complies with her husband’s demands, then the abuse should stop. Behind verbal abuse and abandonment, physical violence is seen as a last resort to enforce submission. According to a witness in the Hadith, Muhammad physically struck his favorite wife for leaving the house without his permission. It is not known how he treated his less favored wives.
Does Islam allow a man to hit his wife?
Yes, but only if she does not obey him. If a woman complies with her husband’s demands, then the abuse should stop. Behind verbal abuse and abandonment, physical violence is seen as a last resort to enforce submission. According to a witness in the Hadith, Muhammad physically struck his favorite wife for leaving the house without his permission. It is not known how he treated his less favored wives.
Quran (4:34) – “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.” Contemporary translations sometimes water down the word ‘beat’, but it is the same one used in verse 8:12 and clearly means ‘to strike’.
Sahih Bukhari (72:715) – A woman came to Muhammad and begged him to stop her husband from beating her. Her skin was bruised so badly that it is described as being “greener” than the green veil she was wearing. Muhammad did not admonish her husband, but instead ordered her to return to her husband and submit to his sexual desires.
Sahih Muslim (4:2127) – Muhammad struck his favorite wife, Aisha, in the chest one evening when she left the house without his permission. Aisha narrates, “He struck me on the chest which caused me pain.”
Let’s talk about the fourth issue.. Divorce
Can a Muslim man divorce his wife simply by saying “I divorce you” three times?
Yes. This is a controversial practice known as divorce or “triple talaq.”
Whenever the wife is not menstruating, the husband can divorce her by saying “I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you,” which effectively casts her out and leaves him free to find a new wife.
Islamic law on this issue is based on the Hadith and a creative interpretation of Quran verse 2:229.
Quran 2:229 Says “A divorce is only permissible twice: after that, the parties should either hold together on equitable terms, or separate with kindness. It is not lawful for you (men) to take back any of your gifts from your wives, except when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by Allah. If ye (judges) do indeed 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. If any do transgress the limits ordained by Allah, such persons wrong (themselves as well as others).”
Some Islamic scholars believe that it isn’t right to do this in one sitting. They say that there should be a period of time between the “three strikes.”
Under Islamic law, once a marriage is consummated, a wife has no right to divorce her husband without his permission, even if she can be arbitrarily dismissed for any reason.
“And now we come to the fifth point…”
Men’s Authority over Women.
Does Islam teach that women are subordinate to men?
According to the words of Muhammad and the Quran, men have control over women.
Quran (2:228) – “And men have a degree over them.” The term “them” refers to women. This is often taken as a matter of rights
Quran (33:33) – “And abide quietly in your homes…” Women are confined to their homes except when they have permission to go out.
Quran (2:223) – “Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will.” Wives are to be sexually available to their husbands in all ways at all times. They serve their husbands at his command. This verse is believed to refer to anal sex (see Bukhari 60:51), and was “revealed” when women complained to Muhammad about the practice. The phrase “when and how you will” means that they lost their case.
Sahih Bukhari (88:219) – “Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler.”
Sahih Bukhari (58:125) – Women are tradable commodities. A Muslim with two wives offers a fellow Muslim his pick between the two. Muhammad then arranges a wedding banquet.
Sahih Bukhari (62:81) – According to Muhammad, the most important part of a marriage contract is the unrestricted access that a man has to his wife’s vagina.
To this day, it is absolutely forbidden for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man, even though men are not under the same restriction as to their choice of marriage partners. This is a consequence of the low status of a wife against that of her husband.
In her lifetime, a Muslim woman is never to be without the guardianship of a man, from her father to her husband to the male members of her family (in the event that she is widowed or divorced).
On top of this, he forbade women from traveling alone. Nor are they allowed to be alone with a non-relative male. Women must cover themselves, and, when there is sexual sin, they nearly always bear the responsibility of guilt, as it is assumed that they are under a higher standard of conduct.
Stonings, honor killings, floggings and even the mutilation of female genitalia are sporadically employed in the Muslim world to keep women in their place.
In 2017, an imam in South Carolina stated that the man is the “owner” and “ruler” of the woman, who must obey him as his “prisoner.”
Palestinian cleric Issam Amira used a discussion on the ‘sacredness’ of honor to send a blunt message to Muslim women in 2018: “We are ready to die defending your honor, but at the same time, we are ready to kill you if you take your honor lightly.”
From Gatestone : In 2015, Nureddin Yıldız, an Islamic scholar and president of the Sosyal Doku Foundation, argued that ‘working women paved the way for prostitution.’ Alparslan Kuytul, founder of another Islamic foundation, Furkan, said that a man would be sexually aroused if he saw the naked leg of his own mother.”
And the sixth issue is polygamy..
Does Islam permit a man to have more than one wife?
Yes. A Muslim man can marry as many as four women at a time and have sexual relations with an unspecified number of slaves as well. Muhammad had eleven wives at one time.
Quran (4:3) – “Marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess.” This verse plainly allows a man to have up to four wives (Allah conveniently granted Muhammad an exception… on the authority of Muhammad, of course). According to the Hadith, the “justice” spoken of merely refers to the dowry provided the bride, not the treatment accorded following the wedding.
Quran (66:5) – “Maybe, his Lord, if he divorce you, will give him in your place wives better than you, submissive, faithful, obedient, penitent, adorers, fasters, widows and virgins” A disobedient wife can be replaced. A man can only have up to four wives, but he can rotate as many women as he pleases in and out of the lineup, thus giving himself an endless supply of sex partners.
Sahih Bukhari (5:268) – “The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number.” I asked Anas, “Had the Prophet the strength for it?” Anas replied, “We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty men.” Muhammad had a “special rule” that allowed him to have at least eleven wives. (His successors had more than four wives at a time as well.)
Sahih Bukhari (77:598) – “Allah’s Apostle said, “No woman should ask for the divorce of her sister (Muslim) so as to take her place, but she should marry the man (without compelling him to divorce his other wife)” Polygamy is firmly established in the Islamic tradition.
At this point, the Muslim clerics usually defends polygamy (perhaps claiming that it reduces prostitution) . After all, why would Allah procreate women and men at an equal rate if marriages were meant to have ratios as high as 4:1? Lest even four wives prove insufficient, the Quran also gives men license to capture women and use them as sex slaves.
A preacher in ‘moderate’ Tunisa recently claimed that is every Muslim man’s divine right “to take a concubine along with his wife and to enjoy the ones that their right hands possess.” He went to add that “the concubine is the most effective solution to restore the social and moral balance of society.”
The prophet of Islam had many wives and the bickering in this unhappy arrangement is well-chronicled. At one point, his wives were so upset by Muhammad’s taking a slave girl to one of their own bedrooms that Allah had to step in and whisper parts of suras 33 and 66 in his ear, including the threat to divorce them all if they didn’t allow him complete sexual freedom (nothing suspicious there).
It is shocking to see a religion place such high value on a man’s base sexual desire as to permit him to bring other women into the marriage bed just to satisfy lust. As pointed out, women are not allowed the same freedom to seek sexual satisfaction from alternate sources should their husband lose interest or capacity.
The non islamic world has decided that polygamy devalues a woman’s worth (and robs a union of intimacy).
And the seventh issue is making non-Muslim women sex slaves…
Islam neither ignores slavery nor condemns it. In fact, a significant part of Sharia is dedicated to this practice. Muslims are encouraged to live according to the ways of Muhammad, who was a slave owner and trader. He captured slaves in war; he had sexual relations with his slaves; and he instructed his men to do the same. The Quran actually dedicates more verses to the idea that Muslim men may keep women as sexual slaves.
Quran (33:50) – “O Prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those (slaves) whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee” This is one of several personal-sounding verses “from Allah” narrated by Muhammad – in this case allowing a virtually unlimited supply of sex partners. Other Muslims are restricted to four wives, but they may also have sex with any number of slaves, following the example of their prophet.
Quran (4:24) – “And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess.” Even sex with married slaves is permissible.
Quran (8:69) – “But (now) enjoy what ye took in war, lawful and good” A reference to war booty, of which slaves were a part. The Muslim slave master may enjoy his “catch” because (according to verse 71) “Allah gave you mastery over them.”
Sahih Bukhari (41.598) – Muhammad establishes that slaves are property. They cannot be freed if an owner has outstanding debt, but they can be used to pay off the debt.
Sahih Bukhari (62:137) – An account of women taken as slaves in battle by Muhammad’s men after their husbands and fathers were killed. The woman were raped with Muhammad’s approval.
Sahih Bukhari (34:432) – Another account of females taken captive and raped with Muhammad’s approval. In this case it is evident that the Muslims intend on selling the women after raping them because they are concerned about devaluing their price by impregnating them. Muhammad is asked about coitus interruptus.
Abu Dawud 1:142 – “Do not beat your wife as you beat your slave-girl”
Given that there have never been abolitionary movements within the Islamic world, it is astonishing to see contemporary Muslims write their religion into the history of abolition. It is a lie.
There was no social reformer in Islam. As mentioned, Muhammad, the most revered figure in the religion, practiced and approved of slavery. Caliphs since have had harems of hundreds, sometimes thousands of young girls and women brought from Christian, Hindu and African lands to serve Islam’s caliphates and islamic rulers.
Some contemporary apologists interpret sex slavery as a favor done to the subject – a way in which women and children are taken care of in exchange for their sexual availability to the pious Muslim male. Although morally repugnant in its own right, this is easily belied by the fact that slavery would be unnecessary if the arrangement were of benefit to the slave.
Muslim slave raiders operated as far north as England. In 1631, a French in Algiers observed the sale of nearly 300 men, women and children, taken from a peaceful English fishing village:
“It was a pitiful sight to see them exposed in the market…Women were separated from their husbands and the children from their fathers…on one side a husband was sold; on the other his wife; and her daughter was torn from her arms without the hope that they’d ever see each other again.” (from the book, White Gold, which also details the story of an English slave, Thomas Pellow, who was beaten, starved and tortured into embracing Islam).
The Indian and Persian people suffered greatly as well – as did Africans. At least 17 million slaves were brought out of Africa by Islamic traders – far more than the 11 million that were taken by the Europeans and 50 million from India. However, these were only the survivors. As many as 100 million other slaves are thought to have died en route.
Since the Islamic invasions in India, the trend of Hindu and Sikh women being sex slaves of Islamic invaders and rulers has persisted. From Muhammad bin Qasim to Aurangzeb, 100 millions of Hindu and Sikh women were sold as slaves or kept in harems, where they were raped and treated as sexual servants.
In fact, a fatwa (Islam Q&A 33597 originally at http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/33597) was recently issued by a mainstream Islamic source reminding Muslim males of their divine right to rape female slaves and “discipline” resisters in “whatever manner he thinks is appropriate”. Not one peep of protest from Islamic apologists was recorded.
In 2013, the same site prominently proclaimed (Islam Q&A 10382 originally at http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/10382) that “there is no dispute (among the scholars) that it is permissible to take concubines and to have intercourse with one’s slave woman, because Allah says so.”
In 2011, Salwa Al-Mutairi, who is considered a women’s rights activist in Kuwait, suggested that Russian women be taken captive in battle and turned into sex slaves in order to keep Muslim husbands from committing adultery.
In 2016, a British imam who claims to be anti-extremist, affirmed the legitimacy of sex slavery to his followers. The next year, a Kuwaiti Sheikh called enslaving unbelievers “one of the virtues of Islam.” There have also been several modern-day fatwas endorsing the sexual abuse of non-Muslim women following capture.
who said this at the very same time that thousands of Yazidi women were being horrifically raped by the Islamic State.
After the Islamic State kidnapped and pressed into slavery thousands of Yazidi women and children in 2014, the caliphate issued an FAQ of sorts on slavery, which included rules on sexually molesting children: “It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn’t reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse; however, if she is not fit for intercourse, then it is enough to enjoy her without intercourse.
A 12-year-old girl taken captive by the Islamic State explained that her ‘master’ would pray before he raped her: “He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to Allah.” Other sex slaves have been forced to pray before the rape or recite passages from the Quran during. When a Yazidi woman begged a caliphate member not to rape
a little girl, he responded, “She’s a slave… and having sex with her pleases God.”
