Street Prophets

Ramadan Day 22: Verses from the Quran

by lauramp

Wed Oct 26, 2005 at 07:35:01 PM PDT

Each day during Ramadan, I am presenting a verse from the Quran with a few thoughts or comments. An introduction to this series is here. Inshallah (God willing), I hope that this may be of benefit to any who are interested in learning a bit more about Islam and Muslim belief.

Quran 33:35:

Surely the Muslim men and the Muslim women, and the faithful men and the faithful women, and the devout men and the devout women, and the honest men and the honest women, and the persevering men and the persevering women, and the humble men and the humble women, and the men giving to charity and the women giving to charity, and the fasting men and the fasting women, and the men guarding their chastity and the women guarding (it), and the men remembering Allah much and the women remembering (Him). Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward
Most commentators say that this verse lists both men and women in a parallel structure like that to emphasize the equality of men and women in all these areas.

A tradition records the occasion on which this verse was revealed:

Umm Salama said, "I said to the Prophet, 'Why is it that we (women) are not mentioned in the Quran as men are?' Then one day without my realizing it, he was calling from the pulpit and I was combing my hair, so I tied my hair back then I went out to my chamber in my house, and I started listening out, and he was saying from the pulpit... [and the verse is recited here]

More background on this (and on a verse cited previously) here. When I blogged about it, I called it "women, ask and ye shall receive".

It's nice to think that this verse is specifically intended to address the spiritual status and equality of women.


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  • It's amazing, sometimes (0 / 0)

    How the basics of a religion, the words that came from it's venerated founders, can be so badly twisted by people as to make it look like the religion supports just the opposite.

    I already knew enough about the Quran to know that the misogynism that some Islamic countries/groups are famous for didn't come from Mohammed, any more than the "hate thy neighbor" mentality came from Jesus.

    Sometimes, I imagine the two of them setting their enlightened selves down together and commiserating about people who just don't seem to want to get it.

    Thank you, again, for sharing these with us.

    by Morgan on Wed Oct 26, 2005 at 11:21:37 PM PDT

    • ideal and reality (0 / 0)

      Thanks for commenting! I think you are very right.

      One mistake that I think people sometimes make is to assume that anything a Muslim does or that goes on in a Muslim country is part of Islam. This is not necessarily true. Like any other group of people, Muslims are quite capable of failing to live up to their religion and even of violating it. Many times, the people themselves don't even give it a religious justification, it's just part of the culture.

      And even when people do claim religious justification for their practices, they're not always right about that and their claims can easily be refuted by citing references from the Quran and other texts.

      If Islam were defined by the state of the Muslim world, I would hardly have converted. But I converted because of what I think that Muslims can be, if we live up to the highest ideals set out by Islam.

      "Riches does not mean having a great amount of property, but riches is self-contentment." (Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

      by lauramp on Thu Oct 27, 2005 at 12:55:10 AM PDT

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      • I've often said (0 / 0)

        That to judge all of Islam by groups like the Taliban is to judge all of Christianity by groups like the KKK :-).

        by Morgan on Thu Oct 27, 2005 at 11:08:20 AM PDT

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        • very true (0 / 0)

          Yeah, there's real truth in that. There are more than a billion Muslims around the world, in dozens of countries. To judge everybody by a group in one relatively small country, it just doesn't quite make sense.

          There's a reason why other Muslim countries aren't like that!

          "Riches does not mean having a great amount of property, but riches is self-contentment." (Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

          by lauramp on Thu Oct 27, 2005 at 04:27:15 PM PDT

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