Kat & Mike

Submitted by Daisy (United States), Jan 29, 2007 at 17:14

Dear Kat, I understand from your emphasis on the word "life" where your main concern for Islam's women lies .. in this immediate life .. not in the afterlife. My intention in pointing out the Islamic plan for women after death was to show that, as in other religions, Islamic schemes for the afterlife pretty well reflect moral status achievements in this current life.

Looking at the treatment of Muslim women - essentially barred from Paradise for the crime of being female - speaks volumes about the so-called 'treasured' status of women in Islam. Mike, I have read the Koran; that's a problem for Islam .. it's quite accessible (albeit a mess) .. and loads of literate infidels are reading what is largely inaccessible to the majority of Muslims. Wide spread Muslim illiteracy plus Islamist scruples prohibiting printing the Koran in accessible languages force most observant Muslims into memorizing the Koran in meaningless Arabic - in turn leaving most Muslims especially susceptible to exploitation by power mad imams/mullahs. At best, even when accessible, the Koran is a largely inchoate mass of contradictions.

What's clear is that Islam has been a militant movement since its inception. All people are devalued within Islam ... but there is particular antipathy towards woman (which one would expect in any culture that mainly relies upon warrior-ship to achieve its aggressively imperialistic goals). From the Koran: "When a woman comes she comes in the form of a devil."[145] And it is believed that the majority of them will end up in Hell. "The Prophet said: 'I have not left any calamity [fitnah] after me more detrimental to men than women.'"[146] (Bukhari, Agreed upon) Dr. M. al-Buti addresses Muslim Girls saying, "Know that this temptation which afflicts the man is due to you."[147] Commenting on the Qur'an 3:13 (Decked out fair to men is the love of lusts- Women, children, heaped up heaps of gold and silver, horses of mark, cattle and tillage.) Dr. Buti said: "God regarded woman as the first ranking lusts which He placed in the way of mankind... The woman then is absolutely the greatest affliction in a man's life."[148] "The prophet of Allah said to Fatima, his daughter, 'What is best for a woman?' She replied, 'That she does not see a man and not be seen by a man'. He being pleased with her answer hugged her and said, 'An offspring resembling its origin.' The companions used to block the windows and the holes in the walls of their houses, so that the women do not look to men. ... 'Omar said, 'Do not dress the women (nicely) and they will remain inside the house' for they will not go outside in tattered clothes. He also said, 'Get your women used to the word 'No'."[149] Bukhari recorded the following Hadith: 'O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)."[150] And Muslim recorded: "Amongst the inmates of Paradise the women would form the minority."[151] Dr. Mohammad al-Buti, a modern writer sees that the reason the majority of women will end up in Hell is because they fail in their most important task thus causing men to stumble.[152] Thus women represent the greatest stumbling block to men's worship and their eternal destiny as the following Hadith state: "Had it not been for women, God would have truly, truly been worshipped."[153] "There is no calamity I fear on my nation more than women and wine."[154] "Men perished, the day they obeyed the women."[155]

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