The Devils Blacks

2010 19 July 2010

Islam and women: the mystification continues

by Bisque

A friend pointed me to the article signed by Chiara Scattone: " The complex relationship between Islam and female universe ", topic of great current interest and view the miserable situation of women in the Islamic world.

Unfortunately, knowing enough of the sacred texts of Islam, I must say that the article addresses the topic with more concern for partiality to defend Islam than to analyze the anthropological characteristics common to almost all patriarchal society, but especially by not explaining why the Judeo-Christian cultural roots of Western society have led to the equalization of the sexes while the Islamic cultural roots have prevented and continue to prevent it.

But look now more obviously incorrect statements contained in Article Scattone (I do not think that such false statements in support of preconceived thesis). In a nutshell Scattone is the old argument of the correct interpretation of the Koran and the difficulty of its translation into other languages that can lead to tragic misunderstandings as the Arabic verb "wadribwhunna" referring to women, that does not mean "picchiatele" but "it away." Confirms this pacifistic interpretation denies 1400 years of Islamic civilization, citing the example of Muhammad would never beat his wives and would always condemned those who did.

Apart from the fact that according to the Islamic faith, the Koran is the word of the Creator, not created, perfect and immutable for eternity and then, if interpreted, interpreted with extreme caution and attention, interpretations can not distort the text. Actually the root of Arab-ra-ba beat well (the most common way) has many other uses, dictated by the context, including "cross" refers to ships that cross over an arm of the sea. The fact is that the most influential modern translators of the Qur'an (in the past does not translate the Koran, but you learn Arabic!) Understood the word in question, albeit with different nuances, how to beat or beat. Regarding the 10 most authoritative translators of the Quran in English, their version of the verb "wadribwhunna" of verse 34 of Sura 4 is the Qur'an as follows:

Pickthall: "and scourge them" ie "and whip"
Yusuf Ali: "(And last) beat them (Lightly)" ie "(Finally) flatten (slightly)"
Al-Hilali/Khan "(and last) beat them (Lightly, if it is useful)" ie "(and finally) flatten them (lightly, if useful)"
Shakir: "and beat them" ie "and beat"
Sher Ali: "and chastise them" ie "and severely punish"
Khalifa: "then you may (as a last alternative) beat them" ie "then you (as a last alternative) beat them"
Arberry: "and beat them" ie "and beat"
Rodwell: "and scourge them" ie "and whip"
Sale: "and chastise them" ie "and severely punish"
Asad: "then beat them" ie "and beat"
[Picard, "and beat" (NDT)]
[Guzzetti: "and beat" (NDT)]
[Bonelli: "and beat" (NDT)]
[Mandel: picchiatele (NDT)]
[The Arabic root means Darabi strike, beat, but very gently, so that "Darabi âunuqahu" = hit someone's neck, means "beheaded" (NDT)]

Even the Italian translation, both of which Bausani Guzzetti, Bonelli, Mandel and Piccardo speak of "beating". It therefore appears that the attempt to interpret this unfortunate word differently, is not only impractical but mostly wrong and not accepted by virtually all Muslims trainees.

Given and not given the verb in question to mean "away" and not "beat", the verse states, however, the complete subjection of wife to husband, so much so that they are established means of correcting for the wives "disobedient", with lots of greetings equal rights within the family. It 'such an acceptable submission of the wife to her husband, even if they refrain from corporal punishment, limited to only those moral?

But let the example of the Prophet.

In an interesting recent interview, Dr. Wafa Sultan , Muslim apostate, that is why death threats, made a comment that struck me: speaking of Christians, said that while committing serious errors, or staining of heinous crimes, have the ability to change and improve themselves by imitating the founder of their religion, Jesus This route is also followed by Muslims must emulate the behavior of the Prophet, al-insan al-kamil (the perfect man) and wswa Hasan (good example); Qur'an 33:21. Unfortunately, it is the man who beheaded in one day all the males of the tribe of Banu Qurayza in Medina, as "suspected" of treason, the same man who spent the night with a nice Jewish Safiyya bint Huyayy ( Muslim, Vol 1 , Book 8, Number 367 ) that had killed his father, brother and husband. Details edifying of killing her husband, through torture, under the personal supervision of Muhammad on the same day the previous night's "wedding" is narrated by Ibn Ishaq in his biography of the Prophet of Islam (Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad [Sirat Rasul Allah], Oxford University Press, 1955, Page 515).

Scattone clear in his article says that this "fine example (C33: 21)" never personally beat his wives and has always condemned those who did. Unfortunately it is not true, as demonstrated by these two authentic hadith: the first Aisha, the favorite wife of Muhammad, tells of being beaten on the chest by the Prophet ( Muslim, Vol 4, Chapter 203, Number 2127 ) and second, even Aisha, after leading the Prophet a woman bruised by the blows of her abusive husband without his scolding, complaining of "never having seen a woman suffer suffer as much as the believing women" ( Muslim, Vol 7, Book 72 , No. 715 ).

Not only that, even if an unlikely interpretation of the Koran read "go away" instead of "beat" and also whether it was appropriate to mention the hadith uncomfortable and cite only those profits remain many inequalities enshrined in the Koran, God's word, and impossible to change unthinkable without a "correction" of the Koranic text. I shall just mention the reduced importance of the testimony of the woman than the male (the testimony of two women equals that of a male), the inequality of women relative to men in terms of inheritance (the female inherits half of what inherits male), but especially polygamy, sanctioned, though not recommended by the Koran (Quran, 4:3). Note that the Koran limits the number of lawful wives to 4, but not limit the number of slave concubines, whose number depends only on wealth and sexual dall'appetito the believer. Muhammad himself, who had, the only Muslim, more than 10 legitimate wives, also had many concubines, slaves, the most famous of which was the famous Mary the Copt "which is even mentioned in the Qur'an Qur'an 66:1-5 )

Obviously there are some Muslims who are fighting to change the situation, but we must recognize that the main obstacle to overcome this barbarity is just Islam and its traditional interpretation, embodied in the Sharia, in addition to disregarding the rights of women , also fails to recognize human rights as enshrined in all Islamic states that, after refusing to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights United Nations, signed the Cairo Declaration of 1990, still valid.

Any infidel who denounces this situation is branded with the neologism "Islamophobia", derogatory term like "reactionary racist", while Muslims who dare to do it are accused of apostasy and therefore at risk of skin. In fact apostates should be executed, if not the law of men, surely the law of Allah (at least according to the manual of Islamic law school Shafi, translated into English: " Reliance of the Traveller ", adopted at the Islamic University -Azhar in Cairo in 1991). And do not think that my statement is an exaggeration: the Muslim reformer Mahmoud Taha, author of " The second message of Islam "was executed for apostasy in Sudan in 1985.

To conclude, I think the correct attitude should be to support those few brave Muslims who risk their lives fighting to break the chains of obscurantism surrounding their religion and who strive to criticize the gross errors in the tradition crystallized most retrograde Islamic. Only Muslims, in fact, can reform Islam from within; task of Western support and defend, instead of engaging in dialogues with stakeholders inconclusive lack credibility. But the most important thing is to recognize the true nature of the problem as the guy said: you can not solve a problem unless you acknowledge there is a problem, and in my opinion, Islam is the problem.

Article taken from: Lysistrata