Religion of Islam: The Difference and the Treatment of Male and Female Genders - Case Study Example

The Difference and the Treatment of Male and Female Genders and the Rules they have to follow in the Religion of Islam The role of women in the Islamic culture has undergone rapid changes and public debate over the role of women and the rules that guide the behavior of men and women under the Islamic framework. The explanation of the expected behavior of women is explained by considering the sayings of Prophet Muhamma, Shari’a and the Quran. While the conservatives argue for a more restricted conduct of women, there are modernists who argue for a more liberal approach to interpretation of women roles. Traditionally, the roles of women in the Muslim society were restricted by the patriarchal society where the superiority of men was emphasized and the inferiority of women was popularized. Today, there are constant changes in the societal, economic and political roles of women as they adapt to the changes in the modern society (Haddad, 1998). However, even with the public debate and the changes in the modern world, major areas of concern over the role of women in most Islamic states are related toothier marginalized rights with regards to egalitarianism and gender equality. Their rights to retain their names after they are married, right to inherit property, conduct business, right to education and right to life are not guaranteed for these women (Coleman, 2010). The Quran and sharia advocate for the equality of men and women arguing that women were not created for men and they were created for mutual benefits of each other (Quran, 30:21). Despite the attempts by the Quran to liberate the Islam women, the segregated women roles continue to characterize the roles of Muslim women in many societies. According to El, Fadl, (2005), the Muslim societies fail to uphold the provisions of the Quran regarding the equal rights of men and women due to the subversion by the traditions which put men as superior creatures to women and therefore in charge of all political, economic and social issues regarding women. Muslim women are portrayed as invisible creatures in most of the Islamic countries. According to Barazangi (2009), the method of limiting fitna, which is widely accepted in Islamic religion is applied when enhancing intellectual and social segregation of the women. The worst case of invisibility suffered by Muslim women is justified due to its sanctioning by their religion. Furthermore, national and political ideologies in most Islamic societies reaffirm the separation of women from roles from the public and private spheres where the women are required to be invisible and remain hidden while the men take part in major public events and activities. Personal status codes and religious based family laws in these countries further play a crucial role in maintaining such traditions, thus allowing the subordination of women at the privilege of men (Torab, 2007). There are different rules in the Muslim societies that determine how men and women are treated and how their behavior should be regulated. Generally, women in these societies have been subjected to a history of discrimination. Their rights and freedom are highly restricted. Scholars argue that the political leaders and the social structures governing the codes of behaviors and conduct of the society. Discriminative structures are legitimized by psychological, legal and physical subservience of women enhances the construction of an imagined and distorted social reality (Kassam, 2011). Wright (2011) holds that the most controversial complexities facing the Muslim women in the modern times are loss of the belief itself, sexuality and their rights. Furthermore, their lives are very different from those of their male counterparts with regards to place, time and production. This makes it very difficult for the women to unify with the men around a common cause, especially since most of women’s time is spend in private sphere tending to the needs of the men, their families and the entire household. When a woman is married, her husband becomes a master over her life. Her place becomes the home and her world is made up of the extended family structures. She can only derive pleasure in making her family happy as opposed to most western women who derive satisfaction from success in their education, careers or even politics. Nars, (as cited in Dodds, 1968) claims that, “that for a Muslim woman to be cut off from her home and larger family structure would be like being cut off from the world or like dying. She finds the meaning of her existence in this extended family structure which is constructed so as to give her the maximum possibility of realizing her basic needs and fulfilling herself (113).” The discrimination of women is highly reflected in the tradition that allows “unquestioned male authority over the family” (Brannon, 2007, p. 254). While in most countries men are only allowed to be legally married to one wife, the family law in most of the Islamic states, even the ones which have been secularized such as Egypt. Women are only limited to having only one spouse, whereas the man is permitted by religion and by the law to have four wives. The discrimination is also evident in the legal age in which women are considered ready for marriage (Jones-Pauly, 2011). The legal age is very young such that some marriages take time to be consummated as they wait for the young brides to develop physically. For instance, in Iran, while the legal age for the girls to get married is nine, the legal age of boys is fourteen. Attempts to amend the age to fourteen in Iran was rejected by the Iranian Parliament in 2000. It is also very clear that the minimum age for girls to get married is rarely enforced by the traditionalists who view that the most appropriate time for women to get married is at the onset of puberty. According to Prophet Muhammad’s biographer, her favorite wife was married at the age of six and it was not until the age of nine that their marriage was consummated. Masculinity of men is allowed to be exercised on women in order to lock them in undeforming marriages. The right to divorce is rarely exercised as the women are threatened by discriminative always that do not protect their rights. For instance, the Iranian law gives the father custody of girls after the onset of puberty and the boys after they reach the age of six. As such, even if women are granted the divorce, they are not protected by nay rights with regards to the custody of their children. As such, most women stay in marriages where they are battered with philandering husbands for fear of losing the custody of their children (Kassam, 2011). Despite the fact that the Quran is considered a feminist book due to its efforts in advocating for the equal rights between a man and a woman, it compromises the rights of women by interpreting that men should have pre-eminence over women. In Quran 4:34, the husband is given the right to punish a wife who is accused of insubordination. The husband is allowed to admonish his wife and then abandon her so that she can asleep alone. Afterwards, he should beat her. Is it very difficult to convince such as woman that she should not be going through such difficulties since they also believe that it is a prescription from the holly book (Kecia, 2010). Other than beatings, horror killings of women is a common practice in the muslin culture. There are hundreds of women who die annually from horror killings from their husbands. Women are killed when they are suspected of disobeying and especially in relation to sexual indiscretion. When women are caught committing marital indiscretion, she suffers horrifying treatment from her husband and also from her male relatives. Furthermore, the men who commit such acts are lightly punished. For instance, a husband who slays her wife after catching her committing adultery is exempted from punishment (Jones-Pauly, 2011). Works cited Ali, Kecia. Marriage And Slavery In Early Islam. Cambridge, Harvard UP, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Print. Barazangi, N. H. “The absence of Muslim women in shaping Islamic thought: Foundations of Muslims’ peaceful and just co-existence.” Journal of Law and Religion, 2009, 24 (2), 403-432. Print. Coleman, I. Paradise beneath her feet: How women are transforming the Middle East. New York: Random House. 2010. Print. Dodds, P. C.Youth and womens emancipation in the United Arab Republic. Middle East Journal, 1968, 22 (2),159-172. Print. El Fadl, K. A. The great theft: Wrestling Islam from the extremists. New York: Harper One. 2005. Print. Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, and John L. Esposito. Islam, Gender, & Social Change. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. Print. Inhorn, Marcia C. "Masculinity, Reproduction, And Male Infertility Surgery In The Middle East." JMEWS: Journal Of Middle East Womens Studies 3 (2007): 1. Print. Jones-Pauly, Christina, and Abir Dajani Tuqan. Women Under Islam : Gender, Justice And The Politics Of Islamic Law. London: I.B.Tauris, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Print. Kassam, Zayn. Women And Islam. Santa Barbara, Praeger, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Print. Torab, Azam. Performing Islam: Gender And Ritual In Iran. Leiden: Brill, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Print. 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