The Position of Women in Traditional Chrstianity and Islam
Today's popular discourse, especially within the American media, isrife with references to the downtrodden status of women in Islamiccountries. Indeed, one has but to turn on CNN or Fox news to be met withimages of suffering Muslim women. However, many mistakenly assume that thecultural and political environments in which these women are forced toendure are reflective of the religion itself. Not only is this assumptionpatently untrue, but many Christians would be surprised to find that Islamnot only holds similar doctrinal points in common with their faith, butthat Christianity, itself holds a strong core of misogynistic tenets basedon Biblical texts of which many Christians are entirely unaware. When comparing Christianity and Islam's view of the position of womenin faith, it is important to start at the beginning. In Christianity, thismeans starting with Genesis. We see that in Genesis 3: 6-17, that Evetasted the fruit of the forbidden tree and gave it to Adam, "When the woman[Eve] saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to theeye...she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband [Adam]."Further, we see that, when God called to Adam asking him of
" Even the Christian conception of the spirit of womanhood issignificantly negative in the context of Biblical scripture. " From this, one can conclude (as is commonly believed)that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. Yet, in this version of the story, both Adam and Eve were both equallytempted to taste of the forbidden fruit, after which God asked them, "Did Inot forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy toyou'" They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls: if you do notforgive us and do not bestow upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly belost. Islam also shares a similar "genesis" story in the Qur'an, 7: 19-23. However, in the Qur'an, not only is education required for both menand women, equally, but the woman is not forbidden from speaking in themosque. Even more interesting are Biblical passages that reference negativebeliefs about women that are completely absent from the Qur'an-Eve's faultand punishment of pain, impurity after giving birth to a female child,prohibition of public education and speaking in the place of worship, theidea that man is "of God" while woman is "of man," to name a few. (Hasan) It is true, however, that the Qur'an also references thenecessity of women's "obedience" in the following passage: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allahhas given the one more (strength) than the other, and because theysupport them from their means. However, although the Qur'anic view of menses is that isan "impurity," the original Arabic is considered to refer only to the sexact itself as in the line, ". (Exodus 21:10) Indeed, from the above verses, one can see that the Qur'an has nomonopoly on the practice of polygamy. (1 Timothy2:9-10) The Qur'an, in contrast considers the practice of "covering" to be ofpractical rather than religious significance: O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women,that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (whenabroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) andnot molested. We see this inLeviticus, 12: 2-5, which reads, ". Take, forexample, the following Biblical passages: Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, andthe head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. " Interestingly, Islamhas no such distinction.
Common topics in this essay:
Qur'anic Biblical,
Zillah Genesis,
Instead Qur'an,
Christ God,
Merciful Qur'an,
Adam Eve's,
Adam God,
CNN Fox,
Christian Americans,
Adam Eve,
unclean till,
till evening,
unclean till evening,
biblical passages,
bathe water unclean,
christians surprised,
child unclean,
woman qur'an,
islamic faith,
prays prophesies head,
head christ,
clothes bathe water,
clothes bathe,
wash clothes bathe,
bathe water,
|
Acceptance Essays
