FaithAlone.net

Islam's Low View of Women

Teaching 1 - Most of those in Hell are Women

In many Hadith, Muhammad said that he saw a vision of Hell, and that most of the inhabitants were women, and then gave his reasons as to why:

Sahih al-Bukhari 1052

The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "I saw Paradise and stretched my hands towards a bunch (of its fruits) and had I taken it, you would have eaten from it as long as the world remains. I also saw the Hell-fire and I had never seen such a horrible sight. I saw that most of the inhabitants were women."

The people asked, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Why is it so?" The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "Because of their ungratefulness." It was asked whether they are ungrateful to Allah. The Prophet said, "They are ungrateful to their companions of life (husbands) and ungrateful to good deeds. If you are benevolent to one of them throughout the life and if she sees anything (undesirable) in you, she will say, 'I have never had any good from you.'"

Sahih al-Bukhari 304

Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri:
Once Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) of `Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) ?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you."

The women asked, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He 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. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion."

Notice why he says they are the majority in Hell, when asked. He did not say "because slightly more women are born than men". Rather, he generalizes women as "ungrateful", disrespectful to their husbands, even when their husbands are kind to them, and that they are "deficient in intelligence and religion".

Also note the bizarreness of his explanation of how women are deficient in religion. He cites the fact that they cannot pray or fast during menstruation. What? How is that their fault?

Therefore, according to Muhammad, the gender that you were born with has a noticeable effect on whether or not you will go to Heaven when you die. None of these statements attacking women are ever qualified or given any scope. They are sweeping generalizations which slander and demean all women.

Also see Sahih al-Bukhari 29, 1462, 5196-97, 6449, and Sahih Muslim 79a-b, 2736, 2737a-d, 2738a-b, which all reiterate this teaching. This was not a slip of the tongue, nor is it questionable as to whether Muhammad actually taught this.

Teaching 2 - It is Permissible to Beat Women

In the Quran, Muhammad commanded beating of one's wife in the standard progression of dealing with her disobedience:

Surah 4:34 (Asad)

34 Men shall take full care of women with the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter, and with what they may spend out of their possessions. And the righteous women are the truly devout ones, who guard the intimacy which God has [ordained to be] guar­ded. And as for those women whose ill-will you have reason to fear, admonish them [first]; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, God is indeed most high, great!

Above, Muhammad claimed that God gave us these instructions when dealing with persistently disobedient wives:

  • First, give them a verbal warning
  • Second, deprive them of contact - leave them alone
  • Third, beat them

Note that I had to include the translator's name, because, as frequently happens, translators who have an agenda to make Islam seem less horrific to English speakers add commentary into the verse to soften what Muhammad actually taught - proving that they find what he taught appalling.

Those who translate the verse similarly to Muhammad Asad above are Maududi, Pickthall, Sahih International, Itani, and Haleem. All of these simply say to "strike", "hit", "beat", or "scourge" a women as a final step in punishing them.

However, others add commentary into the verse by using brackets or parenthesis, because they felt qualified to commentate rather than translate in order to make Muhammad seem less wicked than he was:

Surah 4:34 (Yusuf Ali)

34 Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all).

The verse doesn't say "lightly". Yusuf Ali says "lightly", because he is kinder than the false prophet Muhammad. This has no bearing whatsoever on what Muhammad actually said or taught, and so pretending that this is a valid translation is deceptive.

Other translators that add a parenthetical "lightly" or "gently" into the verse are Khattab and Mushin Khan, with Laleh Bakhtiar taking the entire part out about "beating" out of her translation entirely. These are dishonest apologists trying to cover up the evil things the false prophet Muhammad taught.

This same practice is applied to stories in Hadith of Muhammad hitting Aisha, whom he married when she was nine years old (Sahih al-Bukhari 5133, etc.).

In early English translations, both Sahih Muslim 974b and Sunan an-Nasai 2037 used to relay a narration from Aisha, where she said Muhammad "struck me on the chest, which caused me pain", after she had lied to him. In every modern translation of the Hadith, these verses have been updated to read "He gave me a nudge on the chest, which I felt". Muslim translators will lie straight to your face in the name of hiding the evil facets of their religion, because they know it's wrong.

We also have a story of Aisha's father, and the First Rightly-Guided Caliph, Abu Bakr, hitting Aisha, even after she was married to Muhammad, which, just as with Muhammad, she remarked was painful:

Sahih al-Bukhari 6845

Narrated Aisha:
Abu Bakr came to towards me and struck me violently with his fist and said, "You have detained the people because of your necklace." But I remained motionless as if I was dead lest I should awake Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) although that hit was very painful.

We also learn from Sahih al-Bukhari 4608 that this was a hit to the chest.

However, since Muhammad isn't the one doing the hitting, the translators didn't feel the need to update the first part of this to "he nudged me forcefully with his hand", and the last sentence to "I felt the nudge strongly", because they are hypocrites. Abu Bakr didn't care about doing this in the presence of his warlord companion Muhammad, because Muhammed did the same, and taught that doing so was permissible.

Finally, we can look at a Hadith that informs us that Muslim women as a group were beaten, and treated worse than even their Pagan counterparts, according to Muslims themselves:

Sahih al-Bukhari 5825

Narrated Ikrima:
Rifa'a divorced his wife whereupon AbdurRahman bin Az-Zubair Al-Qurazi married her. Aisha said that the lady came, wearing a green veil, and complained to her of her husband and showed her a green spot on her skin caused by beating. It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came, Aisha said, "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!"

Above, a woman is being beaten by her husband, and Aisha remarks "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women". Surely, Aisha knew more about the experience of Muslim women under Muhammad than any liar in the 21st century trying to apologize for a false prophet.

Teaching 3 - Degrading Women's Testimonies because of Their Mental Deficiency

In some of the narrations seen in Teaching 1 above, Muhammad qualified why he taught that women were deficient in intellect. It was because they were only worth 1/2 of a man when testifying to a matter:

Sahih Muslim 79a

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Umar that the Messenger of Allah observed:
O womenfolk, you should give charity and ask much forgiveness for I saw you in bulk amongst the dwellers of Hell. A wise lady among them said: Why is it, Messenger of Allah, that our folk is in bulk in Hell? Upon this the Prophet observed: You curse too much and are ungrateful to your spouses. I have seen none lacking in common sense and failing in religion but (at the same time) robbing the wisdom of the wise, besides you.

Upon this the woman remarked: What is wrong with our common sense and with religion? He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Your lack of common sense (can be well judged from the fact) that the evidence of two women is equal to one man, that is a proof of the lack of common sense, and you spend some nights (and days) in which you do not offer prayer and in the month of Ramadan (during the days) you do not observe fast, that is a failing in religion.

Above, he cites the fact that their testimony is only half as reliable as a man's - another one of his own doctrines (Surah 2:282) - as a proof of their "lack of common sense".

In another narration, he reiterated that the witness of a woman is worth half that of a man, because of the deficiency of their mind:

Sahih al-Bukhari 2658

Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?" The women said, "Yes." He said, "This is because of the deficiency of a woman's mind."

Once again, there is never an attempt in the context to narrow the scope of these statements. He simply makes blanket statements about women in general, and they are disparaging, belittling, and false.

Various Other Ways Women are Inferior in Islam

There are many other ways men are superior to women in Islam.

An easy example of this would be the fact that men can have four wives, but women cannot have four husbands. Many such things are covered in this article, including the fact that women have no protection from divorce, and if enslaved, can be forced to have intercourse with their owners, even if they are married. Female genital mutilation is also practiced in Islam, as covered in this article.

The Hadith are also littered with more denigrating statements about women, for instance:

Sahih al-Bukhari 2859

Narrated Sahl bin Sa`d Saidi:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said "If there is any evil omen in anything, then it is in the woman, the horse and the house."

The above is also narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari 2858.

Sahih al-Bukhari 514

Narrated `Aisha:
The things which annul prayer were mentioned before me (and those were): a dog, a donkey and a woman. I said, "You have compared us (women) to donkeys and dogs. By Allah! I saw the Prophet (ﷺ) praying while I used to lie in (my) bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I disliked to sit and trouble the Prophet. So, I would slip away by the side of his feet."

Sahih al-Bukhari 519

Narrated `Aisha:
It is not good that you people have made us (women) equal to dogs and donkeys. No doubt I saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) praying while I used to lie between him and the Qibla and when he wanted to prostrate, he pushed my legs and I withdrew them.

Sahih al-Bukhari 5184

Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The woman is like a rib; if you try to straighten her, she will break. So if you want to get benefit from her, do so while she still has some crookedness."

The above is also narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari 3331, 5185-86, and Sahih Muslim 1468a.

Sahih Muslim 1403a

Jabir reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saw a woman, and so he came to his wife, Zainab, as she was tanning a leather and had sexual intercourse with her. He then went to his Companions and told them:
The woman advances and retires in the shape of a devil, so when one of you sees a woman, he should come to his wife, for that will repel what he feels in his heart.

Sahih Muslim 2431

Abu Musa reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
There are many persons amongst men who are quite perfect, but there are none perfect amongst women except Mary, daughter of 'Imran, Asiya wife of Pharaoh, and the excellence of 'A'isha as compared to women is that of Tharid over all other foods.

This is also narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari 3769.

Islam is a great religion - if you are a carnal, ignorant, sensual, Muslim man. It is one of the worst religions on the face of the earth to be a woman, and there are scores and scores of references in Islam's sources that bear witness to that fact.

Conclusion

The frequent modern attempts by Muslim apologists to portray Muhammad as some kind of champion of women's rights in order to cater to Liberals is only possible by keeping people ignorant as to what Muhammad actually said and taught about women.

The media does not cover any of these teachings, even though they are anathema to them, because they come from Islam, and not Christianity. They will accept and tolerate absolutely anything as long as it's not Christianity.