I wish you knew a thing about Islam and its stand on women

Submitted by Fazhil (Proud Muslim) (South Africa), May 31, 2010 at 05:51

Dear Julie,

Benjamin Disraeli once said that 'to be councious that you are ignorant is (the first) great step to knowledge. Kindly acknowledge that your (or the lack of) knowledge of the Islamic faith is less than useless in enabling you 'tell us a few facts about Islam'. Islam is wide, and if you are going to sit down and duplicate the ignorance that has been displayed by those who wrote before you about Islam, it will not help your case and attempt to make a valid conclusion about Women and marriage in Islam.

Why does Islam permit polygamy?

A study of sexual behavior in Thailand, Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire suggests about 16-34% of men engage in extramarital sex while a much smaller (unreported) percentage of women engage in extramarital sex. Studies in Nigeria have found around 47-53% of men engage in extramarital sex. In countries with a much less concern for moral values and which are guided only by the pursuit of personal happiness (like the US), Alfred Kinsey has found in his studies that 50% of males and 26% of females had extramarital sex at least once during their lifetime. Overall, it can be conclusively said that men are biologically with a much higher sex drive which fact is not helped by women's unavailability for sex 25% of the time (atleast one week in a month due to menstruation), pregnancy, mood swings among others. That is why Allah, the almighty in his infinite wisdom permitted men to marry more than one wife to protect their values and fidelity. If Christianity and the west in general appreciated these facts, Bill Clinton and America would not have suffered the embarrassment they did - assuming you find such acts embarrassing in the first place.

Does it still leave women with their full rights?

Yes, it does. You stated that a muslim man can divorce a woman by pronouncing it thrice - fact. Let me make it known to you that the Muslim woman equally has the right to freely walk out of a marriage for ANY reason, including (but not limited to) if a man is nolonger attractive, is broke and cannot provide her with her desires, is impotent, etc. Unlike Christianity and other faiths which raise more questions than provide guidance to their followers, Islam provides comprehensive guidance on not only marriage, polygamy and divorce but ALL aspects of life. The christians enter marriage by swearing never to break apart until death and before you know it, because they are trapped by their own irrational oaths, they are rushing to court to dissolve their marriage. Why rush to court when you did not go there in the first place for marriage? Islam is different, it is a complete way of life. It is realistic and knows that man (and woman) can enter into marriage at will, but may also want to end it for a reason. But please note that it does not encourage it as Allah (SWT) says that whereas he has permitted it, he dislikes it when a married couple separates.

Please read the article by Razia sayeda for a practical example of how free and happy the Muslim women are and how they are feeling sorry for you, not you for them.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".