Society Debate: Is Islam fair on women?

It is extremist on women! I used to think Islam was peaceful, tolerant and very positive towards women. What I learned in school and read over the years proved to be nothing but a cover up for a more sinister plot. So I branded the explanations from the Islamic scholars redundant and decided to use my own brain, commonsense and judgment to find out what the story really is. Now I may not be a Muslim and sure some may ask ‘what does she know’ but from what I’ve gathered Allah prefers men. Men are considered more superior because of their physical strength, financial ability to pay dowry and to spend on women. It really isn’t a secret that the men in Islam surpassed the ‘alpha’ mode and went to something I can only describe as conquering. Islamists often write prolix essays showing the merciful and glorious treatment of women under Islam. If you have read one of these extremely lengthy pieces with mind-boggling logic if I may add, you have read them all because, they are all written in almost the same format, so much that sometimes you may wonder whether they are written by the same writer. When a woman gets married, she is taken to the man’s home to be the obedient wife. If she so much as questions his actions, that becomes another issue; disrespect. Its okay for a man to go wandering about, no questions asked but God forbid a woman should do the same and it is the greatest crime ever committed. These men are allowed to have more than one wife sometimes going up to four. What anyone needs four wives for is beyond my understanding. Now, to tell that Islam is not at all fair, how come women are not allowed to have more than one husband? What makes a man so special that it is acceptable for him to walk the streets with four wives on his arm? The best way to tackle that issue is to just ban them from marrying more than one wife. Even at the risk of sounding offensive, I say it is ridiculous. This brings me to the Sharia law. The unspeakable barbarity and gross unfairness perpetrated on the women in Islamic countries like, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and certain parts of Nigeria and Malaysia is something that cannot be ignored. I understand that Islam has its laws and that people should respect them but, as humans we are expected to sin. How then do you stone a woman for committing adultery like she had massacred a mall full of people? In October 2008, a Somali woman was stoned to death for adultery. Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow, 23, was buried up to her neck in front of hundreds of people in a square in Kismayu and stones were hurled at her head. She was dragged out three times to see if she was dead. How come men do not get stoned for adultery because I know plenty of Muslim men out there, fornicating, committing adultery and covering it up by telling people it is okay for a man to be polygamous. Why don’t men get the death penalty? Is it because it doesn’t seem as bad as when they do it or what? I need an explanation to this. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman on death row for adultery, had her sentence come to a halt after an international campaign launched by her children. Where are the men these women committed adultery with? Why are adulterous Muslim men not sentenced to death if they feel so strongly about adultery? I’m not saying what the women did was right but did they really deserve death? How now do you stand and tell the world that Islam is gender balanced because there is no gender impartiality? We do not hear of women sheiks or even their equivalent to a nun. Men run the show. It is the women who are oppressed and bitter but have noting to do but to suffer in silence. rachelgaruka@yahoo.co.uk