The rights of women living in predominantly Muslim countries has been an issue of major contention in recent years. The stories of unashamed inequality and rape are endlessly reported on by the news media [1][2][3], but many Muslims claim these are not tied to Islam, nor are they anything other than denounced by the Qur'an. Yet it is hard to argue that there is no correlation when dissent and accusations of Islam's mistreatment of women are met with violence, as Theo Van Gogh experienced when he was murdered by a Muslim in 2004 [4], over his controversial film Submission that portrayed some of the violence that is committed against women in Islamic homes. Touchy as the subject obviously is, the question naturally arises: what is the view of women that is presented by the Qur'an?

I. Subordinate Servants

From just the first six words of this passage, we get a fine summary of the position of women in Islam. Women are servants, not only to Allah, but to men. Notice how it says good women are obedient women, and recommends that disobedience may be punished by scolding, with-holding sex, and even physical abuse. This theme of women's lower status to men is continued in Sura 2:228...

Since women are naturally below men, according to Islam, they are not to be trusted in legal matters as men are. Therefore the testimony of a woman is worth half of a man's testimony (Sura 2:282), and females are given half as much inheritance as males (Sura 4:11,176). Married women are forbidden for Muslim men to have sex with though... unless they are slaves captured during war, as Sura 4:24 elaborates. Similarly, Muslim widows may not be forcibly taken as wives unless they are "flagrantly lewd" (Sura 4:19), and any woman who is found to be lewd must be confined to her house until death (Sura 4:15).

A tilth is land or property for the purpose of cultivation, and so this verse permits Muslim men to "cultivate" (possibly meaning 'impregnate') their women in whatever manner they please. Not only does this equate women with property, but it clearly gives the impression that their usefulness to men is in child-bearing.

II. Disparaging the Servants

The Qur'an doesn't stop at women being created subservient to men, but goes so far as to openly insult and demean them.

Allah would rather you come to him in prayer with dirt on your face and hands than having just touched a woman. This is also stated in Sura 4:43 and may be connected to the intense phobia Muhammad apparently had of menstruation:

Islam teaches that women are "feeble" and "unable to devise a plan" in Sura 4:98, and warns us that "the guile of [women] is very great" in Sura 12:28. Allah specifically rebukes the notion that he might have female partners too (perhaps because he created women as lesser beings to men), saying that those who worship female deities only worship Satan (Sura 4:117).

The two verses above are generally seen as support for the hijab, or headscarf, worn by many Muslim women. While the Qur'an does not explicitly demand women cover themselves to the extent of the burqa (the full cloak/dress with only eye slits), it does say that believing women ought to conceal themselves when in public. Women are to bear responsibility for the uncontrollable lust of men, while men are taught to go to their women however they wish (Sura 2:223).

III. The Afterlife: A Man's Paradise

The Qur'an makes no small mention of what awaits Muslim men in the afterlife:

This is only a brief excerpt of the references to be found in the Qur'an that speak of beautiful virgins waiting for Muslim men after death. Try as you might to find what the afterlife will hold for Muslim women, you will turn up empty-handed. There is nothing in the Qur'an about how women will be rewarded in paradise for their submission to Allah and their husbands, but I can guess that it won't be with handsome young virgin men.

IV. The Example of Muhammad

Out of nearly all the world religions, Muhammad may be one of the worst examples to follow in the treatment of women. According to the Hadith, which are collected traditions of the life of Muhammad, the 'prophet' (who was at least 50 years old at this time) married a young girl named Aisha when she was only six years old and consummated the marriage when she reached nine [5]. Throughout his lifetime, Muhammad allegedly took 13 wives [6], one of whom was actually his own cousin and initially arranged to be the wife of his adopted son, Zeyd ibn Harithah [7]. Muhammad often granted himself special status among other Islamic men by means of convenient 'revelations', like Sura 33:37 and 33:50...

When his contemporaries questioned his sense of morality, Muhammad would happen to find some new piece of wisdom from Allah that excused his behavior, but he also made certain his own property (wives) would not be infringed upon and would not embarrass him. Any of his wives caught in lewdness would be punished doubly as we read in Sura 33:30, and to prevent this from happening, they were ordered to remain in their houses (Sura 33:32). Any unrelated man who wished to speak with any one of Muhammad's wives would also have to do so from behind a curtain, as commanded in Sura 33:53. Most telling of all, Sura 66:5 says that Muhammad's wives ought to be careful, because if any one of them did not please him, he could divorce them and Allah would replace them with a better wife who is "submissive, believing, pious, penitent, devout, inclined to fasting, widows and maids".

If this is what equality looks like to Islam, you have to have some respect for the anti-suffragists who were at least honest about their feelings toward women.

V. It's Not All Bad... Is It?

As difficult as it may be to believe after reading all of the above, the Qur'an does have some good things to say with regard to women and equality.

Of course, none of these verses really endorse anything more than protection and a small degree of fairness for women, which is truly nothing to brag about these days. The Qur'an is merely a product of the time it was written in, and it was unfortunately customary to view women as lesser beings than men in the 7th century. The book of Islam is not exactly a sexist manifesto, but neither is it a miraculously peaceful text that encourages equality between the sexes. If recognized in this way, Muslims can be strong advocates of women's rights, and perhaps there will be hope to see much of the maltreatment of women abolished in Islamic countries. Yet if superstition and tradition continue to persist in preference to all else, the future may only hold more disturbing events of injustice, cruelty, and oppression.

1. Taher, A. (2008) Family of teen Muslim invited men to rape her. TimesOnline.co.uk. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2009.
2. Infidelesto. (2009) Pakistan: 14 year old Kidnapped, raped and forcibly converted to Islam. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2009.
3. Anonymous. (2004) Political uproar over mufti's remarks. The Copenhagen Post. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2009.
4. Anonymous. Theo Van Gogh - Death. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2009.
5. Tabari. Volume VII. "The Marriage with A'ishah".
6. Anonymous. Muhammad's wives. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2009.
7. Anonymous. Zaynab bint Jahsh. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2009.