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WOMEN IN ISLAM:
HARD QUESTIONS, INTELLIGENT ANSWERS
We are planning a book that will address the
truly hard questions about women's place in Islam. We shall not
concentrate on refuting crude Western attacks on Islam like the
accusation that Islam claims that women have no souls or that Islam
denies women entrance to heaven. Instead we wish to concentrate
on difficult questions that are controversial within the Muslim
community. Questions submitted to date for consideration are
listed below. Your assistance is most welcome. If you have suggestions,
please e-mail us any questions about women in Islam that you have found
difficult and problematical. Send them to: women@minaret.org.
Questions under consideration:
- Is the restriction of women to
the "private sphere" an Islamic mandate or human innovation?
Specifically, is the preference for women to restrict themselves to the
private sphere in the Qur’an?
- Does permission in the Qur'an
given to men to beat their wives open the door to physical abuse?
- In what ways, if any, does the
Quran say that men are superior to women?
- Does the Quran or the hadith
mandate a headscarf for women or is this just an antiquated custom?
- Why must a wife consult her
husband before she can fast?
- Is obedience to the husband
essential to obedience to God?
- Why is the testimony of two
women equal to one man’s? Is this specific to financial transactions
and that time / those circumstances or a general symbol of women’s
intellectual inferiority?
- Why are there cases where a
woman's share of the inheritance is half that of a man's?
- Why can’t Muslim women marry
non-Muslim men?
- What is the rationale for
child custody?
- Can husbands divorce their
wives by saying " I divorce you" three times?
- Under what circumstances is
polygyny permitted?
- Why must a virgin have the
consent of her wali to marry?
- Why must a woman have her
husband’s permission to go out of the house?
- May women lead congregational
prayers?
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