Yusuf Al-Qaradawi Quotes

This type of religious sexism is not unique to Islam. Fundamentalist Christians place women in a secondary role as do fundamentalist orthodox Jews although both allow a man to take only one wife. The Islamic scripture tells us that the Prophet allowed multiple wives only if the man had the resources to care for the wives and all the children. 4 is the maximum.

This technique she describes is consistent with Sharia—Islamic Law. It however is used by very few women who are sophisticated and courageous enough to do so.

This is one of the biblical passages which cause some Christian Fundamentalists to prescribe a secondary and subjugated role for women. Also the view that women, like children, should be seen and not heard. Also it supports those who object to women in the ministry or the priesthood or in senior teaching positions. See {587063}. It is useful to note that much of Islam which preaches a similar view of females, probably learned it from Christianity which preceded Islam by almost 600 years.

Within Christianity there has been a continual debate regarding a woman’s proper role in society in general and in church affairs in particular. This quotation is often used to justify a husband’s dominant role over the wife. Also it supports those who object to women in the ministry or the priesthood. See {587062}. It is useful to note that much of Islam which preaches a similar view of females, probably learned it from Christianity which preceded Islam by almost 600 years.

This 12th century observation which appears so obvious has been ignored by the vast majority of Islamic scholars and writers subsequent until modern times, and even then they represent the small reform minority of Islamic thinking.

An immigrant Muslim woman herself, she was very familiar with the physical abuse of a woman in a Muslim household where she may not be the only wife and Islamic law and tradition makes her subservient to the man and allows her to be beaten by him.

This is a particularly interesting passage of the Koran. On the one hand it provides the religious justification for the sexist dominance of the male in a marriage. However, at the same time, it gave wives rights at a time when few cultures and religions did--such as the right to own and inherit property. Women in the Western world did not obtain some of these rights until the last hundred years. So historically, Islam was somewhat ahead of Christianity when Muhammed lived, but while most Western interpretations of gender role and rights have changed and advanced, a small minority of Islam has been reformist and modern so Islam has gone from a leader in modern gender relations to an obstacle to equality and fairness by not changing and reforming.

He fought in the Crusades with Saladin and was living in Jerusalem under Christian occupation. The cultural dissonance regarding the Christian verses Muslim treatment of women was even noted a thousand years ago. At the time women were fare from equal or emancipated, but even this degree of allowing women conversational rights was considered quite radical by the quote.

This particular quotation is very important. Khomeini was probably the most influential Muslim in the 20th Century. The fact that he wrote this in 1942—before there was an Israel as an enemy—shows how deep seated the requirement for world conquest is. To the Nazi’s world conquest was a justifiable goal. To Khomeini and his many followers, it is a religious obligation and duty and thus is every more dangerous. Extreme anti Muslims justify the attempted expulsion of Muslim immigrants on the grounds that they are a fifth column whose loyalty is and will be to the religion which will attempt to conquer their country. It gives Islamaphobia a veneer of respectability.

Note that the weak are not to be killed in a jihad UNLESS they “fight with words.” If a woman, child, invalid, older person says something that is interpreted as contrary to Islam, they too shall be killed along with all the males. The overriding principle is that anyone who interferes with the dominance of Islam, is to be killed.

He is often referred to as The Reformer as he was a modernist. In particular, the told his people that there was no religious obligation is Islam for wearing a veil or a burka. These are just customs. Yet most Muslims still believe that veils and burkas were required by God. The only Koranic statement on the subject simply says that women should dress modestly. Despite his efforts, veils and burkas are still required by most Afghani families and most people think the requirement is religious.

In Afghanistan and other Islamic nations where there is a fundamentalist view of women, many advocates of women’s rights have been assaulted and/or murdered. In some cases, on the grounds of blasphemy.

This was formalized in 1972 and was the law of the land. “Sack” is a difficult translation. The Albanian concept is that she is an object with no feelings or thinking ability. Women were forbidden from obtaining a divorce, and the wife's parents were obliged to return a runaway daughter to the husband or else suffer shame which could even result in a generations-long blood feud. In the 1960s Enver Hoxha led the Communist Government in a major reform movement on the rights of women. See {639128}.

This quotation is often used to illustrate the "Muslim propensity to violence". However, the context of the quotation was a historical circumstance whereby Muhammad's followers were endangered by others and the fighting was of a defensive nature. However, Islam is also a religion requiring believers to spread the religion. So, if there were people or countries or tribes that resisted conversion, the religion was interpreted by many Muslims as being under attack. Therefore violence was justified. In modern times, some religious leaders saw modernism and The West as a danger to Islam and it's tradition, therefore this and other passages of the Koran are often used to justify the terrorism that became so prevalent.

If some Islamic cleric declares a war or dispute to be an attack on Islam, the penalty is indeed severe for those Muslims who do not join the fight. In some Islamic lands, unbelievers are put to death. Note that the children become the Islamic society’s hostages for the behavior of the father.

This statement is referring to the custom of women covering their eyes whenever a man who they did not know passed them. Turks did not ever use Burkas the way some other Muslim countries do, but they wore headscarves and covered their eyes when a strange man appeared. This was a shocking statement in a sexist Islamic culture. Although the process of modernization and reform in Turkey was relatively bloodless, Ataturk was prepared to and did use force to defend it. This and many others made the role of women not only uniquely equal in the Islamic world, but women were suddenly elevated to the level of most Western nations and in voting rights were ahead of most. He used his own family to set an example. See {584503}.

“Musselman” was then a term for Muslims used by Europeans. The Arabs then, as many terrorists still do, commonly captured American and European ships enslaving the crews and passengers or holding them for ransom. Jefferson and Adams explained that if this could not be stopped and resolved it might mean war. The Americans could not understand why they were attacked when American had done nothing to offend the Arab Counties. The Arab envoy explained their “duty” and “right” to attack Americans and why war was not a serious deterrent to Islamic nations. Ironically, the same explanations were given by Arab leaders in the early 21st century to illustrate why the Arab countries could not be intimidated.

Although she was very outspoken about the plight of women in society, she was very disapproving of women insisting upon rights. See {585321}.