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Monday, August 25, 2008

Women In Islam Versus Women In The Judaeo-Christian Tradition

Dear readers;

As a woman specially interested in women's affairs, but at the same time someone who is 100% agianst the misleading feminist movement, and also as somebody who is trying to study three of the major religions of our world I am very much interested in what each of these religions have to say about "My part of the population: Woman".

As you know I have started reading the Quran and I must inform you that to my amazement ( since I always saw Islam depicted as a very backward religion in its stance towards women which in some respects could be deduced from the situation of women in many Arabic countries) I found ONE WHOLE chapter entitled "Woman".
Now to me this was really amazing to find out.

I am very eager to know what the other two religions have to offer in terms of woman and her rights and hope that those of you who are more informed than me in this particular respect shall help me out.

In my search I have come across this article which I have found very interesting to read. I have not read it completely yet but I was so excited about what I read that I thought I'd share it with you as I read. I'll put additional posts as I continue.

I am still waiting you thoughtful, kind ideas and thoughts.

Eli

Have a good week to come.

WAS IT EVE'S FAULT?!

The three religions agree on one basic fact: Both women and men are created by God, The Creator of the whole universe.

However, disagreement starts soon after the creation of the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve. The Judaeo-Christian conception of the creation of Adam and Eve is narrated in detail in Genesis (2:4-24).

God prohibited both of them from eating the fruits of the forbidden tree. The serpent seduced Eve to eat from it and Eve, in turn, seduced Adam to eat with her.

When God rebuked Adam for what he did, he put all the blame on Eve,

"The woman you put here with me --she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."(Genesis, 3: 12).

Consequently, God said to Eve:

"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you." (Genesis, 3: 16).

To Adam He said:

"Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I forbideen you to eat, “ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life..." (Genesis, 3: 17).

The Islamic conception of the first creation is found in several places in the Qur’an, for example:

"O Adam dwell with your wife in the Garden and enjoy as you wish but approach not this tree or you run into harm and transgression. Then Satan whispered to them in order to reveal to them their shame that was hidden from them and he said: 'Your Lord only forbade you this tree lest you become angels or such beings as live forever.' And he swore to them both that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he brought them to their fall: when they tasted the tree their shame became manifest to them and they began to sew together the leaves of the Garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: 'Did I not forbid you that tree and tell you that Satan was your avowed enemy?' They said: 'Our Lord we have wronged our own souls and if You forgive us not and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be lost' " (7:19:23).

A careful look into the two accounts of the story of the Creation reveals some essential differences.

The Qur’an, contrary to the Bible, places equal blame on both Adam and Eve for their mistake. Nowhere in the Qur’an can one find even the slightest hint that Eve tempted Adam to eat from the tree or even that she had eaten before him. Eve in the Qur’an is no temptress, no seducer, and no deceiver. Moreover, Eve is not to be blamed for the pains of childbearing. God, according to the Qur’an, punishes no one for another's faults. Both Adam and Eve committed a sin
[2]and then asked God for forgiveness and He forgave them both.

Notes:
[2]Shi’ah Muslims do not subscribe to the belief that Adam and Eve committed a ‘sin’. They argue that Adam was a prophet and prophets do not sin. Furthermore Adam eating from the tree was before he was sent to the earth {where the ‘Permissible & Forbidden’ (halal & haram) and ‘Obedience & Disobedience’ are applicable and possible}. For more information see http://www.al-islam.org/shiism/ (Chapter 7).

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