What about women in Islam?

Submitted by Susan Chapman (United States), Jan 28, 2005 at 16:25

Thank you for your continued study of and your articles about Islam and the difficulty in dealing with a "holy war" in which the militant muslims recognize only 1 law, and that is Islamic law.

But I must disagree with your comparison of living with a moderate Islam to living with Germany, Italy, and Japan after WWII. I ask just 1 question, and it is this: how can Islam become moderate when the faith is based so heavily upon the INEQUALITY of the sexes? Women are protected under Islamic law only in a secondary position to men. An Islamic husband may be benevolent, but he is still a despot in the marriage relationship. Look at Pakistan's new law established to protect Islamic women. It is now more difficult for a man to justify killing his wife, but he still may do so and then his sentence is to pay a financial penalty to her family if it is judged that they are harmed by her killing. Mr. Pipes, do you have daughters? I do. How do I feel comforted by moderation in a belief system that has as its roots the domination of women and reduction of women's innate worth? If the treatment of women were based only in practice I could have hope. But it is not limited to practice. It is set forth in the Qu'ran. In fact, as I read the Qu'ran, the only crime of murder is the unjustified killing of an Islamic male. I hope that you can prove me wrong, but I do not have much hope that you can.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I would love to read your opinion on this aspect of Islam.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

No doubt that the treatment of women is one of the most important changes that need to take place in the Muslim interpretation of Islam.

DP