Page 298 - Christians Must Heed Jesus

Christians Must Heed
Jesus

Someone who beats his wife has rebelled against God and His Messenger.
I will be his enemy in the hereafter. (R. Nasihin)
Someone who reads the Koran will immediately see various ref-
erences in its verses to women's intelligence and ability to think deeply
and see detail. For example, the Koran speaks of Balqis, the Queen of
Sheba. Balqis was a head of state of her time. God thus shows us that
a woman can be a head of state and govern that state.

Women who rebel against God and who are hypocritical and ex-
hibit poor moral values are criticized not for being "women" but for
their rebellion against God and their wickedness. The judgment on
this subject is the same for women as for men: It is also the same in all
of the Divinely revealed faiths. In the same way that a state cannot be
called "hostile to women" for imprisoning female anarchists who seek
to destroy it, so it is wrong to address the same accusation against an
entire faith due to the presence of hypocritical and non-believing
women.

Men in Islam are protectors and

caretakers of women, not their rulers

Various people today, and particularly Christians, claim that men
are described as "having sovereignty" over women in Islamic sources
and evaluate the mistaken policies adopted toward women by certain

fanatics in the light of that logic. The verse they foolishly cite as sup-
posed evidence for this reads:
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God
has given the one more than the other, and because they support
them from their means... (Koran, 4:34)

The Arabic word "qawwam" used in this verse means "protector,
maintainer, caretaker." Therefore, the meaning of this verse is fully in
agreement with what we have been saying above. God has charged

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