MISCONCEPTION 15: Islam Belittles the Intelligence of Women

Male and Famale image

Points:

a) The testimony of women

b) The abilities of women are not considered

REFUTATION

Islamophobes always want to draw the world’s attention to the status of women in their expurgated version of Islam. Despite their relentless efforts to give Islam an anti-women image, most of the people who embrace (especially in the West) are women.

Islamophobes give Muslim women second class status by making a whole lot of spurious assertions, one of those claims suggest that Islam belittles the intelligence of women.

They make reference to certain verses and Ahadith to buttress their point.

A major Ayah they refer to is Suratul Baqarah (2:282) in which Allah says: "...And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [available], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses - so that if one of the women errs, then the other can remind her..."

They also refer to Suratul Nisa (4:34) in which Allah said: "Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard..."

Among the Ahadith for them is this one: "I have not seen any one more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious, sensible man could be led astray by some of you."

The women asked: "O Allah's Apostle, what is deficient in our intelligence and religion?"

He said: "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative.

He said: "This is the deficiency of your intelligence"... "Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative.

He said: "This is the deficiency in your religion."

Islam is a way of life that puts everyone in his place. The poor has his place just as the rich, the follower just as the leader, the young just as the elderly, the man just as the women, and so on. Human intellect has never been able to fault Allah’s allotment of these positions.

Islam never opined that the woman’s’ intellect is trash. Islam only stands on views which have been confirmed by science (a strong pillar of atheism) to be true; men are more intelligent than women and men give more sound judgements than women.

THE TESTIMONY OF WOMEN

Judgement

As stated by the authors in a 2009 research work titled 'Gender-related differences in moral judgments', "our study showed the existence of gender-related differences in moral behavior in young adults".

As part of the discussion, the research stated, "Under these circumstances, men more frequently make a ‘‘pragmatic’’ choice regardless of putting others at risk of danger or harm... Female moral reasoning seems directed to avoid harming other people, to place high value on social relationships and to fulfill other individuals’ expectations. Conversely, male moral thought hinges on the abstract principles of justice and fairness and on an individualistic stance".

This clearly implies that it would be safer to have a man testify on your behalf than a woman or better still; two women in the place of one man.

What should the world prefer, the false believe that men and women have equal mental abilities which is capable of causing countless wrong legal verdicts or accepting the reality and save lives?

Intelligence

Professor Richard Lynn (Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster) had his research work on the intelligence of men and women published in the Daily Mail under the title, ‘Men Are More Brainy than Women’, in 2010.

What do psychologists mean by intelligence?

The concept is made up of a range of cognitive abilities that include reasoning, problem-solving, spatial ability, general knowledge and memory.

Below are some key points from his research:

• Only 10% of science professors in Britain are women.
• At the near-genius level (an IQ of 145), brilliant men outnumber brilliant women by eight to one.
• In almost 110 years of Nobel Prize history, only two women have ever won the Prize for physics, only four have won the Prize for chemistry and no woman has ever won the coveted Fields Medal for mathematics in eight decades of trying.
• When it comes to IQ, men and women - at least once they've gained adulthood - simply are not equal.
• Boys and girls may start out with the same IQ but, by 16 or so, boys begin to inch ahead.
• The undeniable, easily measurable fact remains that, by the time both sexes reach 21, men, on average, score five IQ points higher than women.
• When it comes to verbal intelligence, women match men.
• Thanks to high levels of the male sex hormone, testosterone, men are far more competitive and motivated for success than women.

Professor Richard Lynn is not a Muslim yet, like other scientists, he has come to terms with the fact that men are more intelligent than women.

If Islam said men are more intelligent than women over a thousand years ago and now science has confirmed it then, that should even be a credit for Islam; an indication that the words that were spoken by Muhammad (SAW) were indeed divine.

RECOGNITION OF FEMININE INTELLIGENCE

Contrary to the belief of the ignorant, no religion has given as much recognition to the intelligence of women as Islam has.

The views, capabilities, and intellect of women have always been cherished and utilized by the Islamic community.

Health Care

• Rufayda bint Sa’d Al Aslamiya was a doctor in the life time of Muhammad (SAW).  The Prophet (SAW) was so pleased with her expertise that he gave her a share of the booty equivalent to that of the men who took part in the actually fighting. Muhammad (SAW) also gave her intelligence a stamp of approval. It was reported that when Saad Ibn Mu'adh was injured in the Battle of Al-Khandaq, Muhammad (SAW) said, "Take him to the tent of Rufayda". Muhammad (SAW) permitted her to erect her tent within the Masjid complex.
• As-Shifa bint Abdullah was another Muslim woman who was prominent in the health care system of the Muslims. Her real name was Layla but the Companions of Muhammad (SAW) nicknamed her ‘as-Shifa' (healing) because she was able to cure most of the illnesses that afflicted them. in other words, Muhammad (SAW) and his companions trusted her intellect.

Education

Other religions in the world prohibit women from learning and teaching their scriptures because they feel women are not intelligent or pure enough to handle the message; Islam is not one of them.

The Christian/Jewish Bible says: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet". (1 Timothy 2:12)

Islamic history is awash with female scholars, most of prominent among them is the wife of Muhammad (SAW), Aisha bint Abu Bakr.

After the passing of Muhammad (SAW), his companions would visit Aisha to learn the teachings of Muhammad (SAW) from her.

Aisha is the one with the second highest number of Ahadith reported after Abu Hurairah (Abdur Rahman bin Sakhr) with at least two thousand Ahadith.

A number of Islamic scholars had female teachers. Popular mentions:

• Abu Abdullah Muhammad Idris Al-Shafi’i (founder of the Shafi school of thought) and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (founder of the Hanbali school of thought) both studied under Nafisah bint Al Hasan (the greatgrand daughter of Muhammad (SAW)).
• Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik Bin Marwan, and the well celebrated scholar, Hasan Al-Basri, both studied under Umm Al Darda Al Soghra (a female scholar) in the 7th century.
• Sheikh Omar Al-Hanafi and Sheikh Muhammad Salih both studied under the female scholar, Fatima Al-Fudayliyya, in the 18th century.

We might never know for a cert how many Muslim women had men among their loyal and deligent students.

Administration

It is true that Islam disapproves of women being overall rulers of Muslim communities but, in no way does that mean that women are totally banned from administrative positions.

In the reign of Umar bin Khattab (the second Caliph), two women were made the governors of the markets in Makkah and Madina.

As-Shifa bint Abdullah was made the governor of the market in Makkah and Samrah bint Nuhayk  was given the same role in Madinah.

Military

War is among the human activities that greatly depend on strategy and intelligence. If Islamophobes truly believe men and women have equal levels of intelligence, why did it take America 125 years to allow women serve in the military?

The Army Nurse Corps became a permanent corps of the Medical Department of the American army on 2nd February 1901.

It still took the American government 172 years to recognize women as being capable of going to the battle field. It was the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act signed into law by President Harry Truman on June 12, 1948 that gave women permanent status in the Military.

The act placed a 2% ceiling on the number of women in each of the services, restricted promotions to one full colonel or Navy captain as Chief of the Nurse Corps and/or Service Director.

The law also granted the service Secretaries authority to discharge women without specified cause and restricted women from flying aircraft engaged in combat and from being assigned to ships engaged in combat. Before that time, women who wanted to go to the battle field had to disguise as men.

In the American Revolutionary War, Deborah Sampson fought until her gender was discovered; she was discharged.

Why did it take the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) 72 years to get it's first female director?

The MI5 in Britain has had just two female directors in it's 100 years of existence. The MI6 however has never had a female director.  The same applies to the FSB (former KGB) in Russia.

In a nutshell, those who accuse Islam of belittling the intelligence of women are themselves hesitant to entrust their intelligence and security to women.

Islamic history however has records of women who not only served in the Muslim army but were considered among the elite forces.

Nusayba bint Ka'b served as a personal guard to Muhammad (SAW), she served in combat in the Muslim army till she was over sixty years old.

Khawla bint Al Azwar was made the commander of a unit in the battle of Ajnadain.

These Muslim women who just happen to be among the prominent ones would never have attained these high positions of honour if their community and scriptures viewed women as 'dumb'.

Conclusively, it is a great misconception to say Islam belittles the intelligence of women.