Is it the culture or religion...?

Question

When you hear about women being abused in Islam then what crosses your mind?

Wow, Islam is so horrible. BTW, verse 4:34 doesn't give the right for men to beat us although people like to think so.

or...

Is it Islam or the culture?

More rights than one might think

Some Americans believe that Muslim women are oppressed by their religion, forced to cover themselves completely, denied education and other basic rights. It is true that Muslim women, like women all over the world, have struggled against inequality and restrictive practices in education, work force participation, and family roles. Many of these oppressive practices, however, do not come from Islam itself, but are part of local cultural traditions. (To think about the difference between religion and culture, ask yourself if the high rate of domestic violence in the United States is related to Christianity, the predominant religion.)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/women/

As the Islamic state and religion expanded, interpretations of the gender roles laid out in the Quran varied with different cultures. For example, some religious scholars in ninth- and 10th-century Iraq were prescribing more restrictive roles for women, while elite women in Islamic Spain were sometimes able to bend these rules and mix quite freely with men...

Peace be with you.

((((hugs)))

Answer 1

It's the stupid culture, Islam has always recognised the prominent role that women play in society. They are given the freedom to pursue any profession including political positions. Both in the past and present day, women in Islamic societies have reached political heights unparallelled in the most "advanced" western nations. Even in the earliest day of Islam, Aisha, the wife of the prophet, lead an army of 30,000 soldiers. Muslim women lead two Islamic countries: Benazir Bhutto served as the prime minister of Pakistan and was a strong and remarkable leader. Turkey was also headed by a Muslim woman, Tansu Ciller, who was elected the prime minister in 1993. Here in the U.S., we still have never had a female president and the outlook doesn't look too good either.

Answer 2

I have read a great deal of the Quran and have never seen anything that says women have to be oppressed and cover every inch of their bodies. I tend to agree with modesty, and that the coverings do prevent men from marrying women for the wrong reasons. However, the Quran doesn't give men the right to beat anybody except in self defense. So if the Quran, the source of most islamic tradition, didn't create this idea, then what did? It's either Hadith or Sunnah, but more likely Arabian culture, the culture that used to kill baby girls because they were considered a disgrace to the family.


Go to YouTube and look up this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT3ol-iuCGU

It's all about how culture affects how people practice their religion and political values. It also applies to any religion, from Christianity to Buddhism.

Answer 3

I'm not a Muslim, I'm Catholic, but I do know a little about the religion and trust me, the standards that this religion has are very high and very moral. It is a faith based on peace and love of each other. And yes, some individuals have taken a VERY different interpretation of those qualities like the Middle-Eastern terrorists, but over all the Islam is very similiar to Christianity, and we definately do not condone the beating of anybody.
So I think it's just the bad judgement of a minority of people (AKA: those who thinks it's right to beat the women).

Also, in regards to the women's dress, a Muslim will tell you that it is not they who mistreat their women but we. Because we allow our women to dress provocitavely and become much more seductive to the men. But the Muslim women dress as they do because the religion sees it as protecting them from that type of immorality.

The rest I don't have an answer for you.

Answer 4

This is something up my alley. As First of all I am a Muslimah (Muslim women). There is abuse in any race or religion. Islam mean peace and submission. When the mother's of the Muslim girls look for there husband they make sure that they are from a good family, love there mother, funny, loving , wealthy , educated and etc.. We are loved by or husband, and catered to. We work if we want and our money is our money, we don't have to contribute to the household and our husband has to take care of us the way we want. Take care of the kids, and the household. Before we get married we have something called a Nikah, we tell our future husband what we want they before marriage. It can be a house, car, 10 thousand in gold all of thy above and etc. As Muslim women we are very loved and spoiled by our husband, and yes we can divorce The Nikah is ours and can never be taken back it is a legal document and only the women have them for the men. We cover because we want and it says it in the Quran. We are beautiful and why show it to ever one. We are virgins when we get married . In the Quran it says that we are Diamonds and Gold. We don't need to show ourselves to the world. We are very beautiful and uncover only in front of our husband and when family is over and around other Muslim women ( head wrap) . Insurgents are the ones that go against the Quran and we don't agree with them or condone it . We are peaceful , a familyhood. Most important we dont assoicate partners with Allah. He does not have any wife or children. He is one God and is assoicated with none. Bismillahir Rahmaanir- Ra-hiim.

Answer 5

I have been a devout, practicing Muslim for 33 years. No apologies. No regrets. After all these years of studying and practicing Islam, I find that there is no evidence to support abuse or mistreatment of women. By no means is Islam a misogynistic faith. It is based on acknowledging Almighty God as the Sovereign Creator and Lord of all the worlds and submitting to His Divine Will and Plan. This includes upholding what is right and just, forbidding what is wrong and unjust, being active in doing deeds of charity, and most important, worshipping Almighty God only and believing in and trusting His Divine Wisdom. We must believe and accept that in Him is our salvation.

If there are "Muslim" men who physically and/or verbally abuse women, they are going against the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (ways, actions, traditions) of Prophet Muhammad (Allah's Peace be upon him). Islam does not sanction--and never has sanctioned--this disgusting behavior, regardless of the "reason" or "reasons" used to justify it. If there are men out there who hate women enough to physically and/or verbally abuse them, that not Islam's problem; that's theirs. Period.

As for the oppression of women, Islam does not, and never has, oppressed women. Islam denounces all oppression, including the oppression of women. The way I see it, it's the sick, misguided "superior Muslim" men who do that. Islam has nothing to do with that insanity and must not be unjustly blamed for these men's actions. The only one to be blamed for this mess is Satan. No one else.

Answer 6

Nice to hear an honest and intelligent question. I would like to give you my thoughs on the matter. I think it is cultural because it is a world wide problem. To give you an example:the Bible in Epheisans to love our wives and treat them as our oun body but yet it still exsists among so called christians. In Islam it is the same.If people would follow two simple rules Jesus gave world problems would be gone. Love God with our whole heart and soul and love or neighbor as ourselves. He said the whole law is contained in these.
There is a people out ther that dose that. They do not go to war,murder,get involved with worldly politics,have no ethnic,or racial barriers and they have love among themselves which Jesus said would be the identifying mark of a Christian. Hope I didn't chew yor ear off friend

Answer 7

Note you use the word many not all. However many religions are no better or worse than Islam when followed to the letter, the difference is we live in SECULAR societies, it is this that safeguards the rights of all of us male or female from religious oppression.

Answer 8

Religion and culture goes together but it does not mean that culture will dominate religion because religion is a matter of our faith or relationship to God. God used the culture to communicate his will, and remember when God gave his message not outside the culture because if outside the culture the recepient may not able to understand the message.

Edgar

Answer 9

"To think about the difference between religion and culture, ask yourself if the high rate of domestic violence in the United States is related to Christianity, the predominant religion."

Actually, we don't have a high rate of domestic abuse in the US when compared to other countries in the world.

Answer 10

the two are so intertwined there is really no differentiating. the religion gives men the freedoms, and the culture is male empowered due to religion, and vice versa. it seems to be a very harsh dogma indeed, and i would not follow it even if i thot it was the right way to go, which i don't.