Discussion Starter_How should we approach this book as we analyze the relationship between men and women?

The concept of equality between men and women as we see it today is a very recent one. In fact, according to our standard of equality, women are not considered equal to men in many parts of the world such as Saudi Arabia or Iran. Thus, closing the gap between genders is a fight that we are leading up until today.

However, for us to imagine that such a notion of gender equality was clear 1400 years ago when the Quran was written and reading this book from our western perspective expecting it to conform to an ideal world where men and women enjoy the same rights, is simply committing anachronism. Such a simplistic reading of the book would simply lead us to categorically reject its content because it could (and it does) in many ways contradict our current set of values.
I believe that an important thing to keep in mind as we read this book is that this Allah has no gender in the first place. It is not a man nor a woman. It is an agender entity from which Adam and Eve were both created, but with different bodies. In fact, the story of creation in the Quran differs from that in Genesis. Eve was not created for Adam to keep him company but they were both created from Allah and thus Adam no longer has this intrinsic superiority that he had in the bible. Moreover, Adam and Eve were equally blamed for eating from the tree of knowledge and the original sin is no longer the sin of Eve but the sin of mankind. (2:30)

Trying to find anything beyond this theological, metaphysical and ontological equality between men and women in the Quran will lead us to a dead end, especially if we take into account the society in which the Quran was revealed and its practices which in our modern perspective would be considered shocking to say the least.  The pre-Islamic society in Mecca was a tribal, patriarchal society where the economy was totally based on physical labor and thus was exclusive to men (It was a common belief that women could not perform physical labor). This explains for example, the verse “men are a degree above them” (saying this in Arabic means being responsible for them, as in provide for them) and the various verses that David outlined for us.

A literal reading of this book is a dangerous theological error, one that has led to extremism and terrorism. In fact, extremists instead of trying to apply the universal teachings of the Quran (the same ones we find in the bible such as respect, solidarity, etc.), try to recreate the same historical context of the Quran (Caliphate) to allow for a literal application of the Quran.

Just to illustrate how the Quran is so open to interpretation, I would like to draw a comparison between my country (Tunisia) and Saudi Arabia in terms of women rights. Tunisia is a predominantly Muslim country where women have been enjoying equal rights with men since 1956 thanks to a law called the Code of Personal Status. This law, however, is not a secular one. It is one based on a modern interpretation of the Quran and it gives women the following rights:

Polygamy is illegal/ Marriage requires the consent of both parties/ The age of marriage is at least 18 years old/ Men and women have to have equal pay/ Abortion is legal/ Both parties could ask for divorce and women in most cases get custody of the children. All of these laws have been justified by religious figures and none of them have been found to be against the teachings of Islam.

Sadly, in Saudi Arabia or Iran, women have none of the rights I listed above. They also are required to adhere to a certain way of dressing (i.e. Hijab/ Niqab), all because of a very litteral interpretation of the religious text.