contradiction in the Qur’an regarding the preference between men and women
Content of the doubt:
Some sophists imagine that there is a contradiction in the Holy Qur’an regarding the preference of men over women and equality between them, and they prove their illusion by saying: “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate” (An-Nisa’: 1), and saying: “And among His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them, and He has put between you affection and mercy” (Ar-Rum: 21), and saying: “And Allah has made for you mates from yourselves and has made for you from your mates sons and grandchildren” (An-Nahl: 72), and saying: “Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has given one more (strength) than the other and because they spend (for maintenance) from their wealth” (An-Nisa’: 34).
They ask: How does the Quran state in many places that men and women are equal, and that they were created from one soul, and then in other places it states that men are superior to women, and that they have the right to beat and abandon them?! Their aim behind this is to attack the Holy Quran and its rulings.
Ways to refute the doubt:
1) Women are part of men, and God created them from the same man so that he could find peace with them.
2) The Quran equates women and men in all matters except for what the difference in nature requires otherwise, which is rare.
3) Sharing inheritance with men is justice and equality.
4) Islam made guardianship for men for innate and acquired reasons.
5) The function of men and women differs according to the difference in the nature of each of them.
Details:
First: Women are part of man’s being, and God created them so that man could find peace with them:
Eve, the wife of Adam - peace be upon him - and he was the first to call her that when she was created from his rib without him realizing it, and if he had known that, no man would have been kind to a woman. It was narrated that when he realized it, he was asked: Who is this? He said: A woman. It was said: What is her name? He said: Eve. It was said: Why was she called a woman? He said: Because she was taken from man. It was said: Why was she called Eve? He said: Because she was created from a living being. Ibn Masoud and Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with them, said: “When Adam was made to dwell in Paradise, he walked in it wild, and when he slept, Eve was created from his short rib on his left side, so that he might live in peace with her and be comforted by her. When he woke up, he saw her and said: Who are you? She said: A woman created from your rib so that you might live in peace with me.[1] This is the meaning of His saying: “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate” (An-Nisa’: 1). God Almighty made Eve from the nature of Adam, so that this would be more conducive to harmony, cohesion, and familiarity between them[2]. Second: The Qur’an equates men and women in most matters, except for what requires otherwise, due to the difference in nature: The Noble Qur’an equates men and women in many matters, which Dr. Wahbi Suleiman summarized in points including: 1. Equality in humanity: Islam came to establish complete equality in humanity between men and women. God Almighty said: “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate” (An-Nisa’: 1). The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “Women are the twin halves[3]of men”[4]. All men are the sons of women and men, and all women are the daughters of men and women. Each of them was created with the nature of goodness, and God Almighty guided them to the two paths. The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “Every newborn is born with the fitrah, “His parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Zoroastrian”[5]. 2. Equality in creation: Islam came to establish that the soul of a man and a woman is equal, elevated by faith and good character, and humbled by
[6] It is blasphemy and deviation. God Almighty said: “And by the soul and He who proportioned it (7) And inspired it with [determination of] wickedness and [determination of] righteousness (8) He has succeeded who purifies it (9) And he has failed who instills it with [incorrect] corruption (10)” (Ash-Shams). Some of the physical differences between men and women do not affect the single soul, which is the origin, as the poet said: “
Approach the soul and complete its virtues,
for you are a human being by spirit, not by body.
” 3. Equality in human dignity: Islam came to establish equality between men and women in human dignity. It forbade burying a girl alive for fear of shame, and forbade killing a boy for fear of poverty. Ibn Masoud, may God be pleased with him, said: “The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, was asked: Which sin is the greatest? He said: ‘To make a rival to God when He created you.’ It was said: ‘Then what?’ He said: ‘To kill your child for fear that he will eat with you.’ It was said: ‘Then what?’ He said: ‘Commit adultery with your neighbor’s wife . ’” [7] God Almighty said: “And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked: (8) For what sin was she killed (9)” (At-Takwir), and the jurists decided that a man is killed for killing a woman intentionally without suspicion, just as he is killed for killing a man for the same reason. 4. Equality in faith in God Almighty, legal obligations, and the punishment for that: Islam came to decide equality between men and women in faith, work, and the punishment for that. God Almighty said: “Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember God often and the women who do so - for them God has prepared forgiveness and a great reward (35)” (Al-Ahzab), so the woman is an independent creature in terms of responsibility for work, just as the man is, and each is charged independently with the obligations of the Sharia - except for what is excluded from one of them - and he has his reward for doing what God Almighty has commanded without doubling the reward for one of them without the other, and he bears his burden for committing a sin against God Almighty without recording the sin for one of them without The other: “So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it (7), and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it (8)” (Al-Zalzalah). 5. Equality in knowledge, both obligatory and communal: Islam came to urge the education of women and the education of men equally. Women are charged with believing in God Almighty and what came from Him, and are charged with obeying God Almighty in doing what He commands and avoiding what He prohibits. This cannot be done from them except through knowledge. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “… And any man who has a female slave and teaches her and teaches her well, and disciplines her and disciplines her well, then frees her and marries her, then he will have two rewards” [8] . Women used to attend prayers with the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, covered and not adorned with adornment, and they would attend his lessons and sermons, and listen to his sermons on Fridays and the two Eids. Although the wives of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, had learned from him much of the understanding of the Qur’an and its rulings, and much of his hadith, sayings and actions, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, had tasked Umm al-Shifa’ with teaching some of his wives how to write. Muslim women have been eager to learn since God Almighty honoured them with Islam. Many are the hadiths that the Mothers of the Believers narrated from him, may God bless him and grant him peace, and many are the sayings attributed to them in interpretation, jurisprudence and hadith. Many are the women who have memorized the Book of God Almighty or memorized most of it, and they have memorized much of the hadith of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and they used to talk to men from behind a veil.
6. Equality in upbringing and discipline: Islam came to encourage the upbringing and discipline of girls, just as it encourages the upbringing and discipline of boys. God Almighty said: “O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire” (At-Tahrim: 6), and the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “There is no Muslim who has two daughters and treats them well as long as they accompany him or he accompanies them, except that they will admit him into Paradise” [9] .
7. Equality in morals, from purity of heart, intention, tongue, and limbs: Islam came to encourage women to perfect morals just as it encourages men equally; Because society consists of two elements: men and women. When Aisha, may God be pleased with her, became jealous and said about Safiyya bint Huyayy: “It is enough for you that Safiyya is so-and-so,” meaning: short, the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said to her: “You have said a word that if it were mixed with the water of the sea, it would mix it.” [10] So a woman is responsible, like a man, for her heart in terms of: faith and hypocrisy, or sincerity and ostentation, and for her tongue in terms of: truthfulness and lying, and guarding the tongue, or attacking people’s honor with it, and in terms of: obedience and disobedience, and stopping at God’s limits or exceeding them to what God has forbidden.
8. Equality in specific and non-specific punishments: Since women are like men in terms of legal obligations, in Islam they have become like men in bearing responsibility for themselves in belief, speech and action. Islam is based on five general principles, which are the generality of what is stated in it, and what is other than them is complementary [11] to them and supports them, or limits to protect them and restrictions. God Almighty has imposed specific punishments, called “hudud” on whoever attacks one of those principles, whether the aggressor is a man or a woman, and He has made the punishment for aggression outside the limits of those principles up to the opinion and ruling of the state, which are: such as fraud in transactions, and false testimony, which are punishments that change with the change in interest in the opinion of the state, and are called “ta’zir.” Those five general principles are: preserving religion, life, reason, honor and money.
9. Equality in practicing Islam and living by it in accordance with her creation and role in life: Since women are charged with believing in Islam, they are like men charged with preserving Islam, practicing it, and calling to it. The first person to convert to Islam was a woman, namely Khadija - may God be pleased with her - who worked to preserve Islam when she supported the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - when he spoke to her with the revelation.
The first people to be killed in Islam were Yasir and his wife Sumayyah. There are many examples scattered throughout the books of biography, all of which indicate that Muslim women struggled to preserve Islam in their hearts, live by it, and convey it to people; this is because Islam is the religion of God Almighty, and men and women are servants of God Almighty.
10. Equality in acknowledgements, contracts and actions: Islam came to establish equality between men and women in acknowledgements of verbal and financial actions such as: donations, charity, debt, endowment, buying and selling, agency, sponsorship, killing, theft... etc. There is no difference in any of these actions between men and women. Abu Shuraih - may God be pleased with him - said: The Messenger of God - may God bless him and grant him peace - said: “O God, I am embarrassed by the right of the two weak ones: the orphan and the woman” [12] . The meaning of embarrassment is: sin for the one who wastes their right [13] .
With this statement, it becomes clear to us that Islam has established the principle of equality between men and women on the broadest scale, which was absent - indeed hidden - in religions or books that were distorted, which calls us to acknowledge the extent of equality between men and women in Islam and the Qur’an and the extent of her honor in comparison to her humiliating status among others in the religion of others other than Islam.
Third: Women’s participation with men in the right to inherit is justice and equality:
Scholars have explained the wisdom of dividing the estate and distributing shares among males and females. They said: Women’s participation with men in the right to inherit from the deceased is justice and equality, after they were completely deprived in non-Islamic laws and regulations. The wisdom behind men’s distinction over her is that he bears the responsibilities of the family by virtue of his leadership over it, even if the wife is rich, her expenses are on her husband. However, there may be situations in which women are equal to men in inheritance, and may even surpass him: such as a daughter with paternal uncles, for whom she gets half, and all paternal uncles get the other half. Men are not distinguished from women except in one case, which is that he is her brother and inherits with her by agnatic relationship.
When Islam made women half of men in inheritance in such a case, it took a just path, as is clear from the reference to the status of women in other laws in this regard. Inheritance among the ancient Greeks and Romans was for those who were fit to manage the affairs of the family and conduct wars, and the testator could choose during his lifetime someone to take his place in national rights and the leadership of the family, whether he was from his sons, relatives, or foreigners. Before the advent of Islam, they shared women with men in inheritance on an equal basis between them.
The Jews used to give the male child the right to inherit, not the female child. If there were multiple male children, the eldest son would inherit, not the rest. It is stated in the Book of Deuteronomy: “If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated. If the firstborn son is the beloved’s, then on the day when he divides what he has to his sons, he may not put the beloved’s son as the firstborn before the hated’s son as the firstborn. But he shall recognize the hated’s son as the firstborn, giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the birthright is his.” (Deuteronomy 21:15-17).
Islam did not deprive women of inheritance, whether they are from the deceased’s ancestors, descendants, or relatives, and whether they are related to him by blood or marriage. It did not consider whether the heir is able to carry out the duties of the head of the family or not, for that would be injustice and deprivation of her from the best of those she is related to. However, it gave the male a share equal to that of two females in the case of brothers who inherit by agnatic kinship, because in many cases they participate in forming this wealth, and through their efforts they protect it from being lost, and they are also the source of its development and increase. And because the man is the one who supports the family, including the woman, whose share is not affected by any harm, then equality between them is not just. In Islam, the woman is always dependent and her expenses are obligatory on the father until she marries and on the husband after that. If her husband dies, her expenses are obligatory on her children until she dies. Depriving her at all is not just, for the woman may not have a husband to spend on her, so she is satisfied with what she inherited from the deceased [14] .
Fourth: Islam made the guardianship for the man for natural and acquired reasons:
Allah the Almighty made guardianship for men as a whole, not for individuals, because they are usually better at management, opinion, and seeking a living than women in many cases, and they are the ones who take charge of spending. Allah the Almighty made them with this description in contrast to the fact that He made women guardians of the unseen for men and entrusted with what is related to managing the home, so each group has a share in that which the other does not. What is meant by guardianship, as Imam Muhammad Abduh said in his interpretation, is the leadership in which the subordinate acts according to his will and choice. It does not mean that the subordinate is subjugated and deprived of will, and does not do any work except what his superior directs him to do. For a person to be a guardian over another is an expression of guiding him and monitoring him in implementing what he directs him to do, i.e. observing him in his work and upbringing, including: guarding the home and not leaving it.
What is meant by preferring some of them over others is in the words of Allah the Almighty: “Men are the maintainers and protectors of women, because Allah has given one more (strength) than the other” (An-Nisa’: 34). It is the preference of men over women, and the wisdom in this expression is the same as the wisdom in His saying: “And do not wish for that by which Allah has made some of you excel others” (An-Nisa’: 32), which is to indicate that the woman to the man and the man to the woman are like the limbs of the body of one person, so the man is like the head, and the woman is like the body, and that which has preference is of two types: innate and acquired. The innate is that the man’s temperament is stronger, more complete and more perfect, and the acquired is that the man is more capable of earning, inventing and managing matters, and the husband - as some writers have expressed - is like the captain of a ship who sails [15] the waves [16] of married life, with the waves of its problems and the depths [17] of its surprises, and if this ship were destined to sail in calm waters and calm waves, the captain would gain this opportunity greatly, and his ship would advance forward in a safety that would enable him to cover distances on the path to marital happiness that he would not be able to if the sea were raging and its waves clashing and his anger was aroused, that state that worries the captain and confuses his mind, and requires [18] With this presentation, it became clear to us that necessity requires that there be values to whom the general management of this partnership between man and woman is entrusted, and what results from it in terms of offspring. People have been guided in all their organizations to the fact that there must be a responsible leader, otherwise chaos will spread [19] . And the man
, with what his being contains of the ability to struggle, and his nerves’ tolerance for its results and consequences, is more suitable than the woman in the matter of guardianship of the home. Rather, the woman herself does not respect the man she leads, so he submits to her desires, but rather despises him by nature and does not give him any consideration. Fifth: The difference in the function of men and women according to the difference in the biological nature of each of them: The function of men differs from the function of women according to the nature of each of them, and therefore some claimants thought that this is against equality, but the matter is the opposite of what they went to, and Muhammad Qutb clarifies this fact when he says: Equality in humanity is a natural matter and a reasonable demand, as men and women are two halves of humanity and two halves of the same soul, as for the functions and methods of life, how can they be implemented?! Is it possible for anyone to change the nature of things and make men participate with women in pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding?
The specialization of one sex in pregnancy and breastfeeding entails that the feelings, emotions and thoughts of the sex be prepared in a special way to receive this huge event and to keep pace with its constant demands. Motherhood, with all that it contains of noble feelings or delicate deeds, patience in continuous effort, and extreme precision in observation and performance, is the psychological, nervous and intellectual conditioning that corresponds to the physical conditioning of pregnancy and breastfeeding. Both complement and harmonize with the other, such that it is strange for one to exist in the absence of the other. This tenderness in emotion and quick excitement in the conscience, and the strong revolution in feelings that make the emotional side - not the intellectual - the source that is always ready to overflow, always stimulated by the first touch, all of that is a requirement of motherhood; because the demands of motherhood do not require thinking that is fast or slow, and may or may not respond. All of this is the correct position for a woman when she performs her original function and her designated goal.
The man, on the other hand, is charged with the struggle of life outside, whether this struggle is confronting the beasts in the forest, or the forces of nature in the sky and the earth, or the system of government and the laws of the economy, all to extract sustenance, and to protect himself, his wife and his children from aggression. This function does not require emotion to be the source of its inspiration [20] , but that harms it and does not benefit it, for emotion turns in moments from one extreme to the other.
But this does not mean a decisive and decisive separation between the sexes, nor does it mean that neither of them is fit for the work of the other. If a woman is found who is fit for ruling or judging, or carrying heavy loads, or war or fighting, and if a man is found who is fit for cooking and managing the house, or closely supervising children, or feminine tenderness, or is quick to change his emotions, he moves in a moment from one extreme to the other, then all of this is a natural matter and a correct result of the mixing of the sexes in each other’s being, but it is devoid of the false significance that the scum of the horizons in the decadent West or the disintegrating East wanted to attach to it [21] .
Conclusion:
There is no contradiction between the verses of the Holy Quran regarding the preference of men over women and equality between them, as Allah - the Almighty - has decided that women are part of the being of men, created from his rib, and Allah - the Almighty - created them for men to live with them and feel comfortable with them.
The Holy Quran and the great Islam have made men and women equal in many matters, including: human rights, creation, faith and religious duties, upbringing and refinement, objective and sufficient knowledge, morals such as: purity of heart, intention, tongue and limbs, the punishments specified and unspecified in them for: preserving religion, preserving life, preserving money, preserving honor, preserving security, working with Islam and living by it in accordance with her creation and function in life, the right of inheritance, declarations, contracts and transactions... etc. The mere
sharing of women with men in the right of inheritance is justice and equality, as it is a middle ground between those who completely deprive them of non-Islamic laws and regulations, and those who give them more than their right, which is also injustice. The wisdom behind the man’s distinction over her is that he bears the responsibilities of the family by virtue of his leadership.
Islam made guardianship for men for innate and acquired reasons. The innate reason is that the man’s temperament is stronger, more complete and more perfect. The acquired reason is that the man is more capable of earning, inventing and managing matters.
The function of men and women differs according to their different natures. The specialization of one sex in pregnancy and breastfeeding entails that the feelings, emotions and thoughts of this sex be specially prepared to receive this event. This tenderness of emotion, the quick reaction of the conscience, and the strong revolution of feelings that makes the emotional side - not the intellectual - the one that is always ready with an overflow that is always evoked by the first touch, all of these are requirements of motherhood. The man, on the other hand, is charged with the struggle of life outside to extract sustenance, and to protect himself, his wife and his children from aggression. This function requires thought that dominates emotion and that is deliberate in making decisions, that does not react quickly and turn from one extreme to the other.
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[2] Encyclopedia of the Family Under the Care of Islam, Attia Saqr, Wahba Library, Cairo, 1st ed., 2003 AD, Vol. 2, p. 7.
[3] Shaqa’iq: plural of shaqiqah: a sister from the father and mother, and shaqiq: a similar person.
[4] Sahih: Narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad, the rest of the Musnad of the Ansar, the hadith of Sayyida Aisha - may God be pleased with her - (26238), and Abu Dawud in his Sunan, Book of Purification, Chapter on a man who finds wetness in his sleep (236), and authenticated by Al-Albani in Sahih al-Jami’ (2333).
[5] Narrated by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih, Book of Funerals, Chapter: If a boy converts to Islam and then dies, should he be prayed over? (1293), and in other places, and by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Fate, Chapter: The meaning of every newborn being born in a state of fitrah (6926).
[6] To be humble: to be degraded.
[7] Narrated by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih, Book of Interpretation, Chapter: Surat Al-Baqarah (4207), and in other places, and by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Faith, Chapter: Polytheism is the ugliest of sins and a statement of the greatest of them after it (267).
[8] Narrated by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih, Book of Marriage, Chapter: Taking concubines and whoever frees his slave girl and then marries her (4795), and in other places.
[9] Hasan: Narrated by Ibn Majah in his Sunan, Book of Etiquette, Chapter on Honoring Parents and Being Kind to Daughters (3670), and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, Book of Funerals, Chapter on What Has Been Narrated about Patience and the Reward for Illnesses and Symptoms (2945), and it was authenticated by Al-Albani in Sahih Al-Targheeb wa’t-Tarheeb (1971).
[10] Sahih: Narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan, Book of Etiquette, Chapter on Backbiting (4877), and Al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan and Book on the Description of the Resurrection, Tenderness and Piety (2502), and it was authenticated by Al-Albani in Sahih Al-Targheeb wa’t-Tarheeb (2834)
. [11] Rawadif: followers, plural of raadif.
[12] Hasan: Narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad, Musnad of the Companions who narrated many hadiths, Musnad of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) (9664), and Ibn Majah in his Sunan, Book of Etiquette, Chapter on the Rights of the Orphan (3678), and it was authenticated by Al-Albani in As-Silsilah As-Saheehah (1015).
[13] The Muslim Woman, Wahbi Suleiman Ghawji, Dar Al-Qalam, Damascus, 8th ed., 1999, p. 32 and following.
[14] Encyclopedia of the Family under the Care of Islam, Attia Saqr, Wahba Library, Cairo, 1st ed., 2003, vol. 2, pp. 491-493.
[15] Yamkhur: The ship kharta: it sailed through the water.
[16] Abab al-Shay: its beginning or most of it.
[17] Aghwar: secrets.
[18] Encyclopedia of the Family under the Care of Islam, Attia Saqr, Wahba Library, Cairo, 1st ed., 2003, vol. 3, p. 24, with modification.
[19] Atnab: plural of atnab, which is the edge or side.
[20] Mustajash: flowing.
[21] Doubts about Islam, Muhammad Qutb, Dar Al-Shorouk, Cairo, 23rd ed., 1422 AH/2001 AD, pp. 116 and following.
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