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Why Islam Has Been Stuck in a Rut For Centuries

There was news today that discussed the most recent drafts of the new Iraqi constitution, about how it may very well prove to harm the basic, civil rights of women. It is not so much the laws and the legal thoughts that are going into their constitution that will create a problem, but rather that Islam is dominating the ideologies behind the document, and Islam, even at the best of times, is not exactly loving toward women.

Do I believe women have a real place in Islam? Yes, but they aren’t living it. Do I believe Islam has the potential to be a peaceful religion? Yes, for the most part. Do I believe it ever will be? No. Not at all, in fact.

Islam lacks and has always lacked one factor that’s made most of the other major religions of the world the successes (especially in developed nations): equality or near-equality for women. Naturally, men and women are different; we are meant to complement one another. Women would bring a different attitude and feeling to a table, but they’re rarely given a chance under Islamic law or, most specifically, under Islamic society.

The problem with Islam is that there is very little, if any, bending of men to women, and there’s certainly very little “meeting in the middle.” Instead, women are on their knees for men who believe themselves earthly kings created by a heavenly being. Women are essentially vaginas and wombs, on average, to these men. There is no room for them in most of society, and depending on the sect of Islam and what country the couple resides in, it may or may not be easier to live just a normal, even mediocre life.

When it comes to Islam, I don’t think these things will ever change. By the time women are adults in this religion, I imagine many are brainwashed into the lifestyle. You suffer long enough, live under oppression long enough, and it becomes a norm; you think nothing of it. It’s no different from what women who stay in abusive relationships go through.

My parents witnessed this firsthand when they were younger. When they first got married, they were living in public housing near the college my father attended. On the floor beneath them, there was a Middle Eastern couple who followed the Islamic religion (not sure on the sect).

My mother became friends with the young woman, but was rarely able to talk to her, because her husband didn’t like her leaving the apartment or even talking to others–not just outside their faith, but outside of him personally. She lived mostly in silence. And when it was 100-degrees outside, and this young woman was clothed in black from head to toe, and pregnant, she did not complain; to her, this was life. My parents recall how disrespectful her husband was to her, even on a general level, and yet she tolerated it and obeyed it in fear of him and her beliefs. Here she was, in America, one of the major countries for women’s rights, and she was basically a slave to this man. But we can’t call it slavery, now can we? That’d be politically incorrect, right?

Is all of that all right? Is that sort of oppressive mentality holy? To silence half of your population, to silence the women who brought you into the world and bring more of you into the world? God, no matter who you consider your creator to be, did not create women just to be vessels. In the words of Clare Boothe Luce, “But if God had wanted us to think with our wombs, why did he give us a brain?” It’s not even logical to think otherwise.

So is terrorism a problem? Yes. Do terrorists and militants account for all of Islam? No. But these two things aren’t all of Islam’s problems, not even all of the main ones. Every religion is going to have its bit of hypocrisies and its issues, but to quell the lives of millions just because, essentially, they don’t have a penis and some pebbles? Absurd.

We’d all like to fool ourselves into thinking that Islam will be okay once the terrorism is mostly ousted from the religion, but it won’t be, because terrorists are still going to overpower the women they call their wives, and those wives will birth sons who in turn end up with power over them, their mothers–again, because of their sex. The cycle is not going to end.

The only way Islam will change is if women take their deserved power or are, in some amazing way, given it; but I wouldn’t count on the latter, considering this constitution that, at least, Iraq is planning. (Remember, that’s just Iraq. Many other primarily Islamic countries won’t even get as far as it has. There are very few Islamic-based societies that have survived well or that have given women some of their power back.)

Before closing this, I’d like to offer up a few pieces of information.

• There’s a whole book of the Qu’ran on women with three different translations on each verse. It might be shocking to some of you.
• Parts of the book say men and women are equal, and this is what Islamic scholars preach to unknowing individuals. They aren’t lying–they’re just leaving out the rest of the story.
• (From 004.034 ) “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.”
• (004.003) “If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.”

Those are just a few of the inequalities that exist in the Qu’ran, and that’s not even touching on the inequalities that have birthed themselves from society in general, outside of the text. You know what’s really unnerving, though? In doing this bit of research, I ran up on a site that was preaching on about the equality of men and women in Islam and ran across the following:

This clearly contradicts the assertion of the Christian Fathers that women do not possess souls and that they will exist as sexless beings in the next life. The Qur’an says that women have souls in exactly the same way as men and will enter Paradise if they do good :

Enter into Paradise, you and your wives, with delight. (43:70)
Who so does that which is right, and believes, whether male or female, him or her will We quicken to happy life. (16:97)

Um, last I checked no Christian male or otherwise had told me or any other women that I was souless or sexless, and the Bible certainly doesn’t say that; any man that says that, no matter his faith, is just crazy and abusive. But you’ve got to love propaganda. This is what people want to see, but it’s not what’s there. I’m glad I walk a different path, and I’m sorry that a religion with millions of followers is stuck in a primitive and ruthless mindset. I’m sorry for the women and for the countries.

Comments ordered from oldest to newest.

steve

I sorta get tired of being told Islam is a peaceful religion. If somewhere around 75% of Muslims despise a people because of a group they belong to (jews) without regard for the individuality of the persons they are despising…..theres nothing peaceful or even remotely enlightening about such a religion.
I wonder sometimes if the average Jihadist like we see on tv goes home at night and hugs their kids tightly and hopes for a bright future for them? Do they find a wallet on the street and feel compelled to find the person it belongs to? Do they go out of their way to do nice things for their close friends?…..I dont think its possible to have such rage and hatred toward a person (infidel) that you dont even personally know, and then have any sort of loving relationship with those of your own kind.
I think we are witnessing the closest thing to a “cancer” on mankind than we are likely to ever see .

tee

this article is just a load of crap.ure also leavin major parts out all in d name of bringing up ridiculous points 2 support ur argument.ur experience is based on a single family u observed and all wot ure told on news.like any othe religion, there r people who go to d extremities to fight 4 their religion and i think its quite ignorant of u 2 lump all muslims as being stuck in a rut n’cos u dont support our some of religious beliefs which uve grossly exaggerated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!