Islam treats men and women equally and it's piety that makes one better than the other, not gender. Besides, look at the society at that time, would anyone have accepted a female prophet? No way, women were oppressed and Islam changed that but even with all those changes, the societies of the world werent receptive to a female prophet. Besides, being a prophet isnt a part time job especially with all the wars the prophet Muhammad SAW was involved in. And yeah, for women, their first and primary responsibility is at home and with child rearing. Can you imagine a woman leading a battle? What with men told to keep their gaze down?
AQ, I think the only thing making women unable to have power and stuff is their childbearing role and the fact that men are attracted to women so women should be protected etc etc etc. Aside from that, you can’t say men are better than women or that women are not capable of work. Women are incredibly hard working and they have the advantage of bringing a unique perspective into things: both the family perspective and otherwise. Men are no smarter than women, their intellectual capabilities are stronger than women in some areas but that does not mean men are “better” than women
By the way, can you explain what Muffassireen and the other stuff you talked about is?
You know, it’s interesting, but strength, piety, patience exists in greater amounts in women than men.
ok y arent women prophet? as far as my knowledge is because Allah didnot choose women for this hardship. As u might know being a prophet is the hardest job ever given to any human being and Allah created women as "weak", now by weak i mean sinfe nazuk (damn the roman). So if Allah would have given women this then there would have been a question why didnt He gave the same strengths and weakness as men?
I dont think you can really compete men and women in this scenario we are the same species but we are different so there fore we have different responsibilities.
In my opinion muslims should try not to criticize Allah and His wisdom thats the part of belief that He knows the best of every thing. So even if we are un able to help you here and your query is not properly answered dont doubt your faith, keep your grasp firm and you might get the answer. I am not trying to preach you just saying as far as i know none of us are ulemas here so we can only "try" to help you and we might fail.Hope this helps.
Qur'an: "... on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good." (4:19)
Qur'an: "They are your garments and you are their garments." (2:187)
It has to do with the patriarchal nature of semitic religions. or even society in general. Even in religions where there are females versions of GOD. We can argue that the strangle hold on religion or it's virtues are mandated through male thoughts and voices, be they Prophets or pundits or priests or Imams.
That's why there is a push now for reformation and changing of this model. As women become more free in terms of political, economic and social aspects around the world, their understanding and impact on religious thought is direly needed.
Women of esteem in religin are thought of as these helpful, alsorans sitting besides the greats, be they prophets or ministers or pundits or translators of god's word.
I for one, question the veracity of any practice or scripture where 50% of the population is left out under the guise of "pre-determined roles". It simply handcuffs the capabilities of that entity on an individual level. Thus the lack of individual prwess attributed to women is the reason why it is ok to suggest GOD wanted it that way. As if GOD couldn't make a woman who can do it all....considering there are many women who do do it all. IF you can have women playing the roles of wives, mothers, bankers, triathletes all at once, Prophetdom seems like a piece of cake.
Somew ulemas were of the opinion that There were some female prophets...infatc hadrat mariyam was in thier opinion ...and the give the reason that quran uses the word wahi for hadrat mariyam .....
However in my opinion ....women are given anther important job of nurturing prophets.....there are different responsibilites for both.....and it is neither discrimenatory nor gaves bad name to womens if they are not given prophet hood......
These are all opinions ..no one is sure wehther they were given prophet hood or not....
The status of women in Islam highly debatable and every individual can have his/her own point of view.
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Whereas I disagree every one of the reasons you give, I applaud your willingness to at least agree that this is an issue that is debatable. Many others have simply closed their minds to the issue.
Suroor, I predict that pretty soon you'll either become very religious Muslimah or you'll outright become a murtid...
Compare the status of a mother in Islam and other religions...Chastity belts were used by Christians for their wives, the Jews were allowed to tie their women to the bedposts while they slept according to Talmudic law and Hindus burned their women with the husband should he die before her...
Now look at the freedom and respect that a Muslim woman commands...
Or do you think that it is the western woman which is on an equal footing? If you were a man, then you can tell the difference, where if you call a western girl a 'hoe' or a 'bitch' it's considered a great compliment, then after being tossed around from the embraces of one man to another, they struggle to settle down respectably...Then after getting married and having a couple of kids, they are divorced, left with the kids to fend for themselves working two jobs just to make ends meet...
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Matsui said: It has to do with the patriarchal nature of semitic religions
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Judaism is a semetic religion and recognise female prophetesses, eg. Miriam and Deborah. I also was under the impression that Islam recognise all prophets that Judaism recognise as prophets. Are there any other prophets that Judaism recognise that Islam also don't?
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Code_Red said: It is a known fact that females are physically delicate
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It is a known fact that women's bodies can take more punishment than men although they don't have the same muscle strength. For coping with hardship, women does it much easier than men. As my wive used to say: "If men had to give birth, the human race would cease to exist".
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*Originally posted by The Old Man: *
Judaism is a semetic religion and recognise female prophetesses, eg. Miriam and Deborah. I also was under the impression that Islam recognise all prophets that Judaism recognise as prophets. Are there any other prophets that Judaism recognise that Islam also don't?
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Well, the general rule of thumb is that all prophets in previous divine faiths are accepted by Islam as well.
Hazrat Maryam (Miriam) - Peace be upon her - we all know.
Suror, sometimes the answers are 'it is what Allah wanted.'
I do not think I agree with many of the replies posted here so far, I reject the concept that it is becuase women are weak, or wouldn't have coped etc.
I also do not think that just becuase there are no women prohets then it means women are lower in status. Remmber the first person to accept Islam was a woman, that many of the hadees we act on were recited by women and it is the women who have been described as the Ummatul momineen.
Would having female prophets add to the status of women today? if that were the case being mothers of those prophets would have been sufficient to do that.
If we want rights for women today, we need to perform our islamic duty: to educate ourselves, woman and man.
Well said Serendipiti! :k: I totally agree with you.
The idea that women in Islam are not equals to men is quite silly, in my opinion. That being said, what culture dictates is another story altogether. You see it all across the world, cultural practices and the treatment of women, and people in general, that is totally against the teachings of Islam. Anyway, that little point is off topic.
