Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the Law School, spoke on her latest book, The New Religious Intolerance, which surveys recent cases of social and legal discrimination against Muslims, to a packed auditorium Tuesday evening at I-House.
Nussbaum’s discussion ranged from bans on headscarves and minarets in Europe to efforts to prevent the construction of Park51, the Islamic center several blocks from Ground Zero in New York City.
“Once, not very long ago, Americans and Europeans prided themselves on their enlightened attitudes of religious toleration and understanding,” Nussbaum said. “Today we have many reasons to doubt this complacent self-assessment. Our situation calls urgently for searching critical self-examination, as we try to uncover the roots of ugly fears and suspicions that currently disfigure all Western societies.”
As indicated by the subtitle of her book—“Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age”—Nussbaum discussed how political anxiety and widespread fear of Muslims motivated laws such as the bans on the Muslim burqa and hijab that have been passed in many European nations, arguing for the repeal of such laws.
Nussbaum also dismissed security, transparency, and identification arguments used to justify the European ban on headscarves. She rejected them all as “inconsistently applied” and “failing to uphold equal respect for all.”
Similarly, Nussbaum argued, the claim that the burqa is a unique symbol of patriarchy and male domination fails under scrutiny, since women in Western cultures are also legally objectified in pornography and pressured to, for example, wear revealing clothing and get cosmetic surgery.
However problematic, Nussbaum stressed that the objectification of women “should be addressed by persuasion and example, not by the removal of liberty.”
Furthermore, Nussbaum held that for most Muslim women, wearing a headscarf is a private religious choice that rarely involves coercion by men.
Nussbaum compared the plight of Muslims in Europe today to the persecution of Jews throughout European history, which culminated in genocide at the hands of Nazi Germany. “But, while we see obvious wrongs in the case of Jews, many are unable to see the strong connection to the case of Muslims today,” she said.
Nussbaum’s remedy for discrimination entails extending democratic principles such as equal respect for human dignity to all groups, including Muslims. She also stressed the need for societies to undergo “Socratic critical self-examination and exercise of the imagination in order to understand others’ points of view.”
It is the latter suggestion that distinguishes Nussbaum from many other legal scholars, for whom equal laws are sufficient. “Even if we had good laws, in addition we would need the cultivation of curiosity about different people in order to overcome intolerance,” she said.
The talk was sponsored by the Center for International Studies as part of its series “The World Beyond the Headlines.”
In controversial verse 4:34 of the Qur’an, men are told to beat their disobedient wives after first warning them and then sending them to sleep in separate beds. This horrendous verse approves of and even sanctions, domestic abuse. As we shall see momentarily, Islamic theology also permits slavery and rape. No person of sound mind and good heart could believe that this is the wish of god. Islam is nothing more than the cult of a long dead, selfish little mad man named Muhammad ibn Abdullah.
Qur’an, 4:34
Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Surely God is high, supreme.
Here is an examination of how other translators render this controversial passage:
Pickthall: “and scourge them”
Yusuf Ali: “(And last) beat them (lightly)”
Al-Hilali/Khan: “(and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful)”
Shakir: “and beat them”
Sher Ali: “and chastise them”
Khalifa: “then you may (as a last alternative) beat them”
Arberry: “and beat them”
Rodwell: “and scourge them”
Sale: “and chastise them”
Asad: “then beat them”
Hadith, Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 11, Number 2142:
Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.
The Qur’an compares women to a field (tilth) that a man is free to use when, and as he chooses:
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Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will; but do some good act for your souls beforehand; and fear Allah. And know that ye are to meet Him (in the Hereafter), and give (these) good tidings to those who believe.
According to Muhammad and his Islam, a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s:
002:282 “Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her”
The Qur’an permits men to marry up to four wives, and have sex with slave girls if they want to do so:
004:003 “If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice”
Hadith, Bukhari, Vol. 1, Book 6, No. 301:
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
Once Allah’s Apostle went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) o ‘Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, “O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women).” They asked, “Why is it so, O Allah’s Apostle ?” He replied, “You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone 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 in her 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 her religion.”
The Qur’an allows men to marry pre-pubescent girls, stipulating that Islamic divorce procedures shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated.
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YUSUFALI: Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no courses (it is the same): for those who carry (life within their wombs), their period is until they deliver their burdens: and for those who fear Allah, He will make their path easy.
PICKTHAL: And for such of your women as despair of menstruation, if ye doubt, their period (of waiting) shall be three months, along with those who have it not. And for those with child, their period shall be till they bring forth their burden. And whosoever keepeth his duty to Allah, He maketh his course easy for him.
SHAKIR: And (as for) those of your women who have despaired of menstruation, if you have a doubt, their prescribed time shall be three months, and of those too who have not had their courses; and (as for) the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden; and whoever is careful of (his duty to) Allah He will make easy for him his affair.
Muhammad was a deranged con man who has betrayed women. Muhammad has betrayed all of mankind, in fact. Here is some more of what Muhammad said and did:
Hadith, Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 54, Number 460:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah’s Apostle said, “If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning.”
Hadith, Sahih Muslim, Book 008, Number 3371:
Abu Sirma said to Abu Sa’id al Khadri (Allah he pleased with him): 0 Abu Sa’id, did you hear Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) mentioning al-’azl? He said: Yes, and added: We went out with Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the expedition to the Bi’l-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them. So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing ‘azl (Withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid-conception). But we said: We are doing an act whereas Allah’s Messenger is amongst us; why not ask him? So we asked Allah’s Mes- senger (may peace be upon him), and he said: It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born.
“By him in Whose Hand lies my life, a woman can not carry out the right of her Lord, till she carries out the right of her husband. And if he asks her to surrender herself [to him for sexual intercourse] she should not refuse him even if she is on a camel’s saddle.” — Ibn Majah 1854
Actually Nussbaum fails to point out the contradictory attitude of Muslims who want to prevent religious freedom in their own countries as well as abroad. For instance, Western women are expected to wear head scarves and enter through secondary entrances when visiting Saudi Arabia. (Thank you, Hillary Clinton, for refusing to wear the hijab!) Yet, those same Muslims expect America and Europe to observe and respect Muslim religious rites when Muslims go abroad. The Muslims want to force women to wear head coverings in their own country but object when other nation’s prevent the practice. France is no worse for saying women can’t wear burqua than Saudi Arabia is for saying they must.
As a matter of fact, women are required to wear a black abaya and head scarf by law in Saudi Arabia. And she may want to do some research on the ban on women being able to drive in Saudi Arabia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuDt7d8gM3I
Saudi women who oppose women’s rights are perfect examples of victims of Stockholm Syndrome.
But political correctness trumps truth every time.
@Plato:
It is not “the same Muslims” who impose unjust and unequal laws in Saudi Arabia who expect to have their religious observances respected in America and Europe (and everywhere else). Muslims do not “go abroad” to France or Switzerland; they live there. In some cases their families have lived in Europe for generations; it may be the only home they’ve ever known.
We cannot argue that all Muslims should be deprived of religious liberty because some Muslims impose unfair restrictions on women. Not all Muslims believe the same things, and (@Arafat) it is no more valid to argue that all Muslims are “really” anti-woman by selectively quoting the Qur’an than it would be to argue that all Jews and Christians condone rape because of passages in the Bible like this:
“Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.” (Judges 19:24-25)
Plato-
“During times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell
Ms. Nussbaum should give Orwell’s insight some serious thought.
Philip, most any relgion has and should continue to take steps towards greater women’s rights and Christianity is not alone in this regard. But comparing Islam to Christianity is the response I’ve come to expect from Westerners who know next to nothing about Islam.
There is no reform/reformation in Islam for every word of the Quran is immutable. Allah’s words cannot be questioned. There is no reformation possible in Islam.
Furthermore Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, is considered to be the perfect role model for Muslim males to pattern their lives on. It does not take a lot of work to find out that Mohammed raped women (see the hadiths and Sunna and Quran), and that when he and his men pillaged villages and caravans Mohammed often enslaved the women he desired. In addition, Mohammed consummated his marraige to Aisha when she was nine and he was fifty-four.
In no religion other than Islam will you find the “perfect man” behaving in a way that institutionalizes hatred and abuse of women.
Philip, here is additional information from Islam’s holy books supporting my comments. I can provide significantly more information if you remain skeptical.
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Question:
Was Islam’s “perfect man” sexually restrained?
Summary Answer:
Muhammad had sex with just about anyone he pleased, thanks to Allah’s extraordinary interest in his personal sex life, as immortalized in the Qur’an.
Although the Qur’an didn’t appear to have enough space for topics like universal love and brotherhood (which Muslims sometimes insist are there, but aren’t), the list of sexual partners that Muhammad was entitled to is detailed more than once, sometimes in categories and sometimes in reference to specific persons (ie. Zaynab and Mary).
Muhammad was married to thirteen women, including eleven at one time. He relegated them to either consecutive days or (according to some accounts) all in one night. He married a 9-year-old girl and even his adopted son’s wife. On top of that, Muhammad had a multitude of slave girls and concubines with whom he had sex – sometimes on the very days in which they had watched their husbands and fathers die at the hands of his army.
So, by any realistic measure, the creator of the world’s most sexually restrictive religion was also one of the most sexually indulgent characters in history.
The Qur’an:
Allah managed to hand down quite a few “revelations” that sanctioned Muhammad’s personal pursuit of sex to the doubters around him. Interestingly they have become part of the the eternal, infallible word of the Qur’an, to be memorized by generations of Muslims for whom they have no possible relevance.
Qur’an (33:37) – “But when Zaid had accomplished his want of her, We gave her to you as a wife, so that there should be no difficulty for the believers in respect of the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished their want of them; and Allah’s command shall be performed.” No doubt millions of young Muslims, trying to outdo one another at memorizing the Qur’an, have wondered about what this verse means and why it is there. In fact, this is a “revelation” of convenience that Allah just happened to hand down at a time when Muhammad lusted after his daughter-in-law, Zaynab, – a state of affairs that disturbed local customs. The verse “commands” Muhammad to marry the woman (following her husband’s gracious divorce). As for why this should be part of the eternal word of God…?
Qur’an (33:50) – “O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who fled with you; and a believing woman if she gave herself to the Prophet, if the Prophet desired to marry her– specially for you, not for the (rest of) believers; We know what We have ordained for them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that no blame may attach to you; ” This is another special command that Muhammad handed down to himself that allows virtually unlimited sex, divinely sanctioned by Allah. One assumes that this “revelation” was meant to assuage some sort of disgruntlement in the community over Muhammad’s hedonism.
Qur’an (33:51) – “You may put off whom you please of them, and you may take to you whom you please, and whom you desire of those whom you had separated provisionally; no blame attaches to you; this is most proper, so that their eyes may be cool and they may not grieve, and that they should be pleased” This is in reference to a situation in which Muhammad’s wives were grumbling about his preference for sleeping with a slave girl (Mary the Copt) instead of them. Accordingly, Muhammad may sleep with whichever wife (or slave) he wishes without having to hear the others complain… as revealed in Allah’s literal and perfect words to more than a billion Muslims.
Qur’an (66:1-5) – “O Prophet! Why ban thou that which Allah hath made lawful for thee, seeking to please thy wives?…” Another remarkable verse of sexual convenience concerns an episode in which Muhammad’s wives were jealous of the attention that he was giving to a Christian slave girl. But, as he pointed out to them, to neglect the sexual availability of his slaves was against Allah’s will for him!
Qur’an (4:24) – “And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess.” Allah even permitted Muhammad and his men to have sex with married slaves, such as those captured in battle.
From the Hadith:
Muslim (8:3309) – Muhammad consummated his marriage to Aisha when she was only nine. (See also Bukhari 58:234 and many other places). No where in the reliable Hadith or Sira is there any other age given.
Bukhari (62:18) – Aisha’s father, Abu Bakr, wasn’t on board at first, but Muhammad explained how the rules of their religion made it possible. This is similar to the way that present-day cult leaders manipulate their followers into similar concessions.
Muslim (8:3311) – The girl took her dolls with her to Muhammad’s house (something to play with when the “prophet” was not having sex with her).
Bukhari (6:298) – Muhammad would take a bath with the little girl and fondle her.
Muslim (8:3460) – “Why didn’t you marry a young girl so that you could sport with her and she sport with you, or you could amuse with her and she could amuse with you?” Muhammad posed this question to one of his followers who had married an “older woman” instead of opting to fondle a child.
Bukhari (4:232) – Muhammad’s wives would wash semen stains out of his clothes, which were still wet from the spot-cleaning even when he went to the mosque for prayers. Between copulation and prayer, it’s a wonder he found the time to slay pagans.
Bukhari (6:300) – Muhammad’s wives had to be available for the prophet’s fondling even when they were having their menstrual period.
Bukhari (93:639) – The Prophet of Islam would recite the ‘Holy Qur’an’ with his head in Aisha’s lap, when she was menstruating.
Bukhari (62:6) – “The Prophet used to go round (have sexual relations with) all his wives in one night, and he had nine wives.” Muhammad also said that it was impossible to treat all wives equally – and it isn’t hard to guess why.
Bukhari (5:268) – “The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number.” I asked Anas, ‘Had the Prophet the strength for it?’ Anas replied, ‘We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty men.’ ”
Bukhari (60:311) – “I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires.” These words were spoken by Aisha within the context of her husband having been given ‘Allah’s permission’ to fulfill his sexual desires with a large number of women in whatever order he chooses. (It has been suggested that Aisha may have been speaking somewhat wryly).
Muslim (8:3424) – One of several narrations in which a leering Muhammad orders a clearly startled woman to suckle a grown man with her breast so that he will become “unlawful” to her – meaning that they can live under the same roof together.
Tabari IX:137 – “Allah granted Rayhana of the Qurayza to Muhammad as booty.” Muhammad considered the women that he captured and enslaved to be God’s gift to him.
Tabari VIII:117 – “Dihyah had asked the Messenger for Safiyah when the Prophet chose her for himself… the Apostle traded for Safiyah by giving Dihyah her two cousins. The women of Khaybar were distributed among the Muslims.” He sometimes pulled rank to reserve the most beautiful captured women for himself.
Tabari IX:139 – “You are a self-respecting girl, but the prophet is a womanizer.” Words spoken by the disappointed parents of a girl who had ‘offered’ herself to Muhammad (he accepted).
Additional Notes:
Muhammad’s sexual antics are an embarrassment to those Muslims who are aware of them. This is particularly so for their prophet’s consummation of his marriage to Aisha when she was only nine years of age. The thought of a 52-year-old man sleeping and bathing with a young girl is intensely unpleasant and it reflects the disgusting character of a sexual glutton rather than a holy man. Critics even allege that Muhammad was a pedophile.
Some Muslims respond by denying the hadith itself, which is a mistake. The accounts of Muhammad sleeping with a 9-year-old are no less reliable than those on which the five pillars of Islam are based. They have been an accepted part of tradition and did not become controversial until social mores began to change with the modern age.
The charge of pedophilia may or may not be true, depending on how it is defined. Technically, Muhammad did have a sexual relationship with a child, but Aisha was also the youngest of his twelve wives. Zaynab was in her 30′s when she attracted the unquenchable lust of the prophet. We don’t know the age of Muhammad’s sex slaves. They may or may not have been as young as Aisha, but there is no point in speculating.
Prior to the medical advances of the last century, marriage occurred at a much younger age across all societies. When life expectancy was in the mid 20′s (or lower), it made no sense to wait until 19 to start having children. Otherwise, one ran the risk of not being around to raise them. In short, childhood as we know it was abbreviated by the reality of the times.
Another strong piece of evidence against Muhammad being a pedophile is that, according to the same Hadith, he waited from the time Aisha was six (when the marriage ceremony took place) until she turned nine to consummate the relationship. Although the text doesn’t say why, in all probability it was because he was waiting for her to begin menstrual cycles – thus entering into “womanhood.” It is unlikely that a pedophile would be concerned about this.
On the other hand, Muhammad passed down revelations from Allah that clearly condoned sleeping with underage girls, even by the standard of puberty. Qur’an (65:4) relates rules for divorce, one of them being that a waiting period of three months is established to determine that the woman is not pregnant. But the same rule applies to “those too who have not had their courses,” meaning girls who have not begun to menstruate. (In our opinion, this would have been a great time for Allah to have said something else instead like, “a real man is one who marries an actual, grown woman”… but that’s just us).
Thanks to Muhammad’s extremely poor judgment (at best) and explicit approval of pedophilia, sex with children became deeply ingrained in the Islamic tradition. For many centuries, Muslim armies would purge Christian and Hindu peasant villages of their menfolk and send the women and children to harems and the thriving child sex slave markets deep in the Islamic world.
When it comes to child marriage, contemporary clerics warn fellow Muslims against succumbing to the disapproval of the Christian West: “It behooves those who call for setting a minimum age for marriage to fear Allah and not contradict his Sharia, or try to legislate things Allah did not permit. For laws are Allah’s province; and legislation is his excusive right, to be shared by none other. And among these are the rules governing marriage.”
The Ayatollah Khomeini, who married a 12-year-old girl, even gave his consent to using infants for sexual pleasure (although warning against full penetration until the baby is a few years older). In April, 2010, a 13-year-old Yemeni girl died from injuries suffered to her womb during “intercourse”.
Some clerics show relative mercy on underage girls by advocating a process known as “thighing” (also known as child molestation in the West). According to a recent fatwa (number 23672), an imam answers this question: “My parents married me to a young girl who hasn’t yet reached puberty. How can I enjoy her sexually?” by telling the ‘man’ that he may “hug her, kiss her, and ejaculate between her legs.”
Muhammad’s penchant for girls so much younger than him was such that at least two of his father-in-laws (Abu Bakr and Omar, the first two Caliphs) were actually younger than him as well. This disappointing pattern is very much at odds with the sort of sexual discipline that one might expect of a true “prophet of God.”
Muhammad’s pursuit of Zaynab, the wife of his adopted son is almost as tough for Muslims to explain. This is because it not only raises a similar question of moral character, but also casts suspicion on whether his so-called prophecies were really divine revelation or dictates of personal convenience. According to one biographer, even Aisha appears to be somewhat doubtful of Muhammad’s claim that Allah commanded him to marry Zaynab, wryly remarking, “Truly Allah seems to be very quick in fulfilling your prayers.”
So controversial was Muhammad’s desire to marry his adopted son’s wife that he had to justify it with a stern pronouncement from Allah on the very institution of adoption, which has had tragic consequences to this day. Verses 33:4-5 are widely interpreted to imply that Islam is against adoption, meaning that an untold number of children in the Islamic world have been needlessly orphaned – all because Muhammad’s lustful desires for a married woman went beyond even what the other six wives that he possessed at the time and a multitude of slaves could satisfy.
Some Muslims deny that Muhammad was married to more than four women at a time, merely on the basis that the Qur’an only gives permission for marrying four. Unfortunately, Muslims historians disagree. Only one of Muhammad’s last eleven wives died before him (Zaynab bint Khuzayma). The rest outlived him by many years.
Muhammad forbade his ten widows from remarrying, even making sure that this “divine” order was forever preserved in the eternal word of Allah – Qur’an (33:53). To add insult to injury, they were all summarily disinherited from Muhammad’s estate by his successor (courtesy of another divine order “given” to Abu Bakr from Allah).
In summary, Islam’s holiest texts portray Muhammad not as a perfect man, but as a sexual hedonist. Not only did he become fat from indulging in food, but his pursuit of sex was no less gluttonous. On top of it all, he used personal “revelations” from Allah to justify his debauchery to the gullible masses which, to this day, continue to be venerated and memorized as if they are the holiest of utterances.