Some Stories Are Timeless

Islam’s Hijab: A Liberating Statement for Women?

Let me be perfectly clear: I don’t hate or fear individual Muslims. I feel profound compassion for Muslim refugees around the world. I pray for them and I donate to organizations that aid them. And I don’t believe every follower of Islam is a terrorist.

Further, I don’t have any issue with a Muslim woman who chooses to wear a hijab in observance of her faith. Few things are as dear to me as the freedom of religion we all enjoy in our nation.

But I do have grave concerns with the Quran and with the cruel, repressive system known as Shari’a Law, which the Quran commands Muslims to observe. And worse, to force on others.

I’m writing this to plead with my non-Muslim sisters. I see this banner featured as if it were some kind of bold statement of liberation and progress.

How can we not see this for what it is: a grim emblem of a real “rape culture”?

We have worked so hard for the rights we enjoy. Why in the world would anyone hold up this hijab image that glorifies a system that traps hundreds of millions of women in the Muslim world in a culture of bondage they did not choose and cannot escape?

When you raise this banner, here’s what you’re saluting.

Ten Things the Quran Actually Says Out Loud

1. Men are better than women
   Quran (2:228) – “and the men are a degree above them”
2. Because men are better than women, men are in charge of women
   Quran (4:34) – “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other….
   “In charge” is interpreted in the most extreme manner possible. These women cannot make their own life decisions or even leave their homes without a male relative as a chaperone.
3. Men are encouraged to beat their wives to prevent disobedience
   Quran (4:34) – “As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them.”
4. Marital rape is permissible. A wife is property, like a field.
   Quran (2:223) – “Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will…” “Tilth” is also translated “place of cultivation.” Wives (multiple) are likened to a field for cultivation and are to be “plowed” at will.
5. Keeping captives and slave girls as sex slaves is also permitted.
   Quran (4:24) “And forbidden to you are wedded wives of other people except those who have fallen in your hands…“ [i.e. captives taken in war].
   See also Suras 4:3; 23:5-6; 33:50; 70:22-30, all of which permit male slave-owners to have sex with their slave-girls.

   “He said that raping me is his prayer to Allah. I said to him, ‘What you’re doing to me is wrong, and it will not bring you closer to Allah.’ And he said, ‘No, it’s allowed. It’s halal,’ ” – Fifteen-year-old “F,” a Yazidi interviewed for a New York Times article. She was freed by Kurdish smugglers after nine months of sexual enslavement. ISIS holds thousands of sex slaves.
   

6. A man may have up to four wives.
   Quran (4:3) – “Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four”
7. A woman’s testimony in court is worth half as much as a man’s. And worth nothing if not corroborated by a man.
   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.”
   Other Islamic writings make it clear that this provision is because women’s intelligence is deficient. (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.’“)
   In practice this provision prevents most rapes from being prosecuted.

   Asia Bibi paints a pitiful picture in her ghost-written book of the dozens of women imprisoned with her in Islamic Pakistan. Many were rape victims jailed for “immorality” when they were found pregnant out of wedlock. The victim rather than the perpetrator was punished. And most of these young women will never see their babies again, as the illegitimate child will generally be killed.

8. Children (usually young women) may be killed without penalty to prevent dishonoring their family.
   Quran (18:65-81) – The story, not found in any Jewish or Christian source, goes that Moses came across a man with “special knowledge” who did things that didn’t seem to make sense, but the justification is explained later. The man murders a youth for no apparent reason. He states later that it was feared that the boy would “grieve” his parents by “disobedience and ingratitude.” The young man was killed so that Allah could provide them a “better” son. [Note: This parable along with verse 58:22 is used to justify honor killing in Shari’a. All punishment is eliminated for a parent or grandparent who kills their own offspring.]
9. Unbelievers are to be destroyed without mercy.
   Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” The targets of violence are identified in the next verse as those who “defy and disobey Allah.” Muslim apologists claim that the 100+ jihad verses in the Quran refer to a spiritual struggle. Clearly not here. Nor is this statement about a defensive action. These verses were narrated shortly after a raid provoked by Muhammad.
10. Does this all sound a bit different from the way Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour explains Islam and Shari’a? Well, here’s the final fact. The Quran sanctions deception as a tactic for Muslims who live under the authority of infidels.
    Quran (3:28) – “Let believers not take for friends and allies infidels instead of believers. Whoever does this shall have no relationship left with Allah—unless you but guard yourselves against them, taking precautions.” In other words, it’s acceptable to pretend to be friendly and on the same page with infidels if you must do so to guard your interests. Regarding this verse, the Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir (1301-1373) wrote: “Whoever at any time or place fears their [infidels’] evil, may protect himself through outward show.”

 

More on the Status of Women in Islam

Here are some additional statements from an article on TheReligionofPeace.com:

“A woman’s heaven is beneath her husband’s feet.”– Traditional Islamic saying

“Women are like cows, horses, and camels, for all are ridden.”
– Respected Islamic commentary (Tafsir al-Qurtubi)

“She should not go out often, she must not be well-informed;… She should be clean and ready to satisfy her husband’s sexual needs at any moment.” – Revered Islamic scholar, al-Ghazali [Ibn Warraq]

“The Christian religion does not differentiate between women and men, but it confirms their perfect equality: it gives them an equal share in inheritance, it bans divorce, and it bans polygamy.”
– An Egyptian cleric, slamming Christianity on a TV talk show.

“Our religion has defined a position for women (in society): motherhood.”
– Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2014

Homa Darabi was a talented physician who took her own life by setting herself on fire in a public protest against the oppression of women in Islamic Iran. She did this after a 16-year-old girl was shot to death for wearing lipstick. In the book, Why We Left Islam, her sister includes a direct quote from one of the country’s leading clerics:

“The specific task of women in this society is to marry and bear children. They will be discouraged from entering legislative, judicial, or whatever careers which may require decision-making, as women lack the intellectual ability and discerning judgment required for these careers.”

Modern day cleric Abu Ishaq al-Huwaini has called for a return of the slave markets, where Muslim men can order concubines. In this man’s ideal world,

“…when I want a sex-slave, I go to the market and pick whichever female I desire and buy her.”

At best, Islam “elevates” the status of a woman to somewhere between that of a camel and a man.

Why would anyone think for a second about giving up the relative equality and security Western women enjoy for a nightmare scenario of degradation and repression?

Honestly, I can’t fathom it. But I can offer a couple of observations.

• Jesus warned us that one of the key characteristics of the last days would be deception. Matt 24:3-4: “…The disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘See to it that no one misleads you….’ “
• Jesus also told us that those who reject Him will be easy prey for false leaders. John 5:43: “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.”

But Doesn’t the Bible Also Demean Women?

I do have some thoughts on that! In fact this has turned into a three-part series comparing the Bible’s teaching on women to the Quran’s. If you’re interested, you’ll find the second and third posts here:

• Does the Bible Demean Women?
• Does the God of the Bible Favor a Gender?

A wealth of additional (horrific) information on the realities of life under Islam can be found here.

The hijab: a bold statement of liberation and progress?
Or grim emblem of a real “rape culture”?

You decide.

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