The status of non-Muslim women
We begin our discussion with something that all of us
should be somewhat familiar with, the story of Adam
and Eve. The misunderstanding of what really
happened has led many people astray.
The Judaea-Christian conception of the creation of Adam
and Eve is narrated in detail in Genesis 2:4-3:24. God
prohibited both of them from eating the fruits of the
forbidden tree. The serpent seduced Eve to eat fromit and
Eve, in turn, seduced Adam to eat with her. [According to
these texts in their current form-bearing in mind that they
have been altered from their originals] 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 fruitfrom
the tree and I ate it."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." To Adam He said:
"Because you listened to your wife and ate from thetree ....
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil
you will eat of it all the days of your life..." [Genesis 2:4-
3:24]
The image of Eve as temptress in the Bible has resulted in
an extremely negative impact on women throughout the
Judaeo-Christian tradition. All women were believed to
have inherited from their mother, the Biblical Eve,both her
guilt and her guile. Consequently, they were all
untrustworthy, morally inferior, and wicked. Menstruation,
pregnancy, and childbearing were considered the just
punishment for the eternal guilt of the cursed female sex.
In order to appreciate how negative the impact of the
Biblical Eve was on all her female descendants we have to
look at the writings of some of the most important Jews
and Christians of all time. Let us start with the Old
Testament and look at excerpts from what is called the
Wisdom Literaturein which we find:
"I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The
man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she
will ensnare....while I was still searching but notfinding, I
found one upright man among a thousand but not one
upright woman among them all";( New International
Version, Ecclesiastes 7:26-28).
“But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two
edged sword.” (NIV, Proverbs 5:4)
“To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth
tongue of the adulteress” (NIV, Proverbs 6:24)
Again and again all women are denigrated because ofthe
image of Eve the temptress, thanks to the altered Genesis
account. To sum up, the Judaeo-Christian conception of
women has been poisoned by the belief in the sinfulnature
of Eve and her female offspring, which is completely false.
In another part of the Hebrew literature which is found in
the Catholic Bible (Douay-Rheims Bible) we read:
“And any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman:
And any affliction, but the affliction from them that hate
him:And any revenge, but the revenge of enemies. There is
no head worse than the head of a serpent: And thereis no
anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more
agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell
with a wicked woman. The wickedness of a woman
changeth her face: and she darkeneth her countenance as a
bear: and sheweth it like sackcloth. In the midst of her
neighbours, Her husband groaned, and hearing he sighed
a little.
All malice is shore to the malice of a woman, let the lot of
sinners fall upon her. As the climbing of a sandy way is to
the feet of the aged, so is a wife full of tongue to a quiet
man. Look not upon a woman's beauty, and desire not a
woman for beauty. A woman's anger, and impudence, and
confusion is great. A woman, if she have superiority, is
contrary to her husband. A wicked woman abateth the
courage, and maketh a heavy countenance, and a wounded
heart. Feeble hands, and disjointed knees, a woman that
doth not make her husband happy. From the woman came
the beginning of sin, and by her we all die.” "No
wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a
woman.....Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all
must die".(Ecclesiasticus 25:19-33).
Observe the severe tone of St. Paul in the New Testament
(which was written by Paul himself): "A woman should
learn in quietness and full submission. I don't permit a
woman to teach or to have authority over a man; shemust
be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. AndAdam
was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was
deceived and became a sinner" (NIV, I Timothy 2:11-14).
St. Augustine was faithful to the legacy of his
predecessors; he wrote to a friend Laetus: "What is the
difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve
the temptress that we must beware of in any woman......I
fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes
the function of bearing children."(Preaching The Women
of The Bible, p.122)
Centuries later, St. Thomas Aquinas still considered
women as defective: "As regards the individual nature,
woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in
the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness
in the masculine sex; while the production of womancomes
from a defect in the active force or from some material
indisposition, or even from some external
influence."(Summa Theologica, Q.92)
Finally, the renowned reformer Martin Luther could not
see any benefit from a woman other than bringing into the
world as many children as possible regardless of any side
effects: "If they become tired or even die, that does not
matter. Let them die in childbirth, that's why they are
there"(Death and Dying)
The following question was posed to Rabbi Epstein:"Why
are the female members of the family considered part of
the family estate?", he answered: "they are owned before
We begin our discussion with something that all of us
should be somewhat familiar with, the story of Adam
and Eve. The misunderstanding of what really
happened has led many people astray.
The Judaea-Christian conception of the creation of Adam
and Eve is narrated in detail in Genesis 2:4-3:24. God
prohibited both of them from eating the fruits of the
forbidden tree. The serpent seduced Eve to eat fromit and
Eve, in turn, seduced Adam to eat with her. [According to
these texts in their current form-bearing in mind that they
have been altered from their originals] 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 fruitfrom
the tree and I ate it."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." To Adam He said:
"Because you listened to your wife and ate from thetree ....
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil
you will eat of it all the days of your life..." [Genesis 2:4-
3:24]
The image of Eve as temptress in the Bible has resulted in
an extremely negative impact on women throughout the
Judaeo-Christian tradition. All women were believed to
have inherited from their mother, the Biblical Eve,both her
guilt and her guile. Consequently, they were all
untrustworthy, morally inferior, and wicked. Menstruation,
pregnancy, and childbearing were considered the just
punishment for the eternal guilt of the cursed female sex.
In order to appreciate how negative the impact of the
Biblical Eve was on all her female descendants we have to
look at the writings of some of the most important Jews
and Christians of all time. Let us start with the Old
Testament and look at excerpts from what is called the
Wisdom Literaturein which we find:
"I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The
man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she
will ensnare....while I was still searching but notfinding, I
found one upright man among a thousand but not one
upright woman among them all";( New International
Version, Ecclesiastes 7:26-28).
“But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two
edged sword.” (NIV, Proverbs 5:4)
“To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth
tongue of the adulteress” (NIV, Proverbs 6:24)
Again and again all women are denigrated because ofthe
image of Eve the temptress, thanks to the altered Genesis
account. To sum up, the Judaeo-Christian conception of
women has been poisoned by the belief in the sinfulnature
of Eve and her female offspring, which is completely false.
In another part of the Hebrew literature which is found in
the Catholic Bible (Douay-Rheims Bible) we read:
“And any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman:
And any affliction, but the affliction from them that hate
him:And any revenge, but the revenge of enemies. There is
no head worse than the head of a serpent: And thereis no
anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more
agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell
with a wicked woman. The wickedness of a woman
changeth her face: and she darkeneth her countenance as a
bear: and sheweth it like sackcloth. In the midst of her
neighbours, Her husband groaned, and hearing he sighed
a little.
All malice is shore to the malice of a woman, let the lot of
sinners fall upon her. As the climbing of a sandy way is to
the feet of the aged, so is a wife full of tongue to a quiet
man. Look not upon a woman's beauty, and desire not a
woman for beauty. A woman's anger, and impudence, and
confusion is great. A woman, if she have superiority, is
contrary to her husband. A wicked woman abateth the
courage, and maketh a heavy countenance, and a wounded
heart. Feeble hands, and disjointed knees, a woman that
doth not make her husband happy. From the woman came
the beginning of sin, and by her we all die.” "No
wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a
woman.....Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all
must die".(Ecclesiasticus 25:19-33).
Observe the severe tone of St. Paul in the New Testament
(which was written by Paul himself): "A woman should
learn in quietness and full submission. I don't permit a
woman to teach or to have authority over a man; shemust
be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. AndAdam
was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was
deceived and became a sinner" (NIV, I Timothy 2:11-14).
St. Augustine was faithful to the legacy of his
predecessors; he wrote to a friend Laetus: "What is the
difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve
the temptress that we must beware of in any woman......I
fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes
the function of bearing children."(Preaching The Women
of The Bible, p.122)
Centuries later, St. Thomas Aquinas still considered
women as defective: "As regards the individual nature,
woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in
the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness
in the masculine sex; while the production of womancomes
from a defect in the active force or from some material
indisposition, or even from some external
influence."(Summa Theologica, Q.92)
Finally, the renowned reformer Martin Luther could not
see any benefit from a woman other than bringing into the
world as many children as possible regardless of any side
effects: "If they become tired or even die, that does not
matter. Let them die in childbirth, that's why they are
there"(Death and Dying)
The following question was posed to Rabbi Epstein:"Why
are the female members of the family considered part of
the family estate?", he answered: "they are owned before
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