Deficiency Of Woman's Mind
According To The Bible? Only when you interpolate it from Islamic view!
Quennel Gale
Recently Bassam Zawadi wrote a short article alleging that the Bible talks about a woman’s mind being deficient to a man. Apparently he is trying to reconcile this false notion to what his religion teaches about women and men in relation to each other.
Deficiency Of Woman's Mind According To The Bible
Here is
a verse from the New Testament talking about husbands and wives and the way
they should treat each other...
1
Peter 3:7
7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live
with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker (asthenes) partner
and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder
your prayers.
The
word asthenes means...
1) weak, infirm, feeble
Source: http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/7/1146844809-9534.html
Response:
Even though it doesn’t even require a lengthy response to Zawadi’s distortions, only a general observation would suffice, nonetheless we have decided to address him in some detail. But before addressing his gross distortion of the Bible it is important that we first see what the Quran says regarding women’s minds:
O believers, when you contract a
debt one upon another for a stated term, write it down, and let a writer write
it down between you justly, and let not any writer refuse to write it down, as
God has taught him; so let him write, and let the debtor dictate, and let him
fear God his Lord and not diminish aught of it. And if the debtor be a fool, or
weak, or unable to dictate himself, then let his guardian dictate justly. And
call in to witness two witnesses, men; or
if the two be not men, then one man AND TWO WOMEN, such witnesses as you
approve of, THAT IF ONE OF THE TWO WOMEN ERRS THE OTHER WILL REMIND HER;
and let the witnesses not refuse, whenever they are summoned. And be not loth
to write it down, whether it be small or great, with its term; that is more
equitable in God's sight, more upright for testimony, and likelier that you
will not be in doubt. Unless it be merchandise present that you give and take
between you; then it shall be no fault in you if you do not write it down. And
take witnesses when you are trafficking one with another. And let not either
writer or witness be pressed; or if you do, that is ungodliness in you. And
fear God; God teaches you, and God has knowledge of everything. S. 2:282
Arberry
Allah commands you as regards your
children's (inheritance); to the male, a portion equal TO THAT OF TWO FEMALES; if (there are) only daughters, two or
more, their share is two thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is
half. For parents, a sixth share of inheritance to each if the deceased left
children; if no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has
a third; if the deceased left brothers or (sisters), the mother has a sixth.
(The distribution in all cases is) after the payment of legacies he may have
bequeathed or debts. You know not which of them, whether your parents or your
children, are nearest to you in benefit, (these fixed shares) are ordained by
Allah. And Allah is Ever AllKnower, AllWise, S. 4:11 Hilali-Khan
These passages presuppose that women are inferior in worth and intellect in comparison to men, which is why Allah and Muhammad claimed that:
IF ONE OF THE TWO WOMEN ERRS THE OTHER WILL REMIND HER;
Allah and Muhammad already assume that two women are needed because one woman could give erroneous information while believing that no such thing is possible with the man. The idea that women were inferior in worth and intelligence in comparison to their male counterparts was something that Muhammad did believe and expressly stated:
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
Once Allah's Apostle went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) on
‘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." (Sahih
al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 6, Number
301; see also Volume 2, Book 24, Number 541)
And:
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
The Prophet said, "Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a
man?" The women said, "Yes." He said, "THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE DEFICIENCY OF A WOMAN’S MIND." (Sahih
al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 48, Number
826)
Muhammad indirectly makes reference to Sura
2:282 regarding the testimony of two women being equivalent to one man as a
basis to show why women are intellectually inferior. Thus, Muhammad’s own
interpretation of Sura 2:282 establishes the case
that the reason why two women are required to testify is because they are
inferior intellectual beings! Mr. Zawadi needs to be careful in trying to bring
accusations against the Holy Bible when his own authoritative sources clearly
devalue women in intellect. Sunni Quran exegete ar-Razi made these comments on Sura
4:11:
"(The males share is that of
two females). Man is more perfect than the woman IN CREATION, AND
INTELLIGENCE, and in the religious sphere, such as the suitability to be a
judge, and a leader in worship. Also, the testimony of the man is twice that of
the woman. So that whoever is given great responsibilities must be given
correspondingly great privileges. As the woman is deficient in intelligence
and of great lust, if she is given much money, much corruption will be the
result."
And:
"The male is mentioned first
in Q. 4:11 because the male IS BETTER
THAN THE FEMALE." (At-tafsir al-kabir, commentary on 4:11; bold
and capital emphasis ours)
One Muslim source states that women were made stupid because of the sin of Eve:
According to Yunus- Ibn Wahb- Ibn
Zayd (commenting on God's word: "And he whispered"): Satan whispered
to Eve about the tree and succeeded in taking her to it; then he made it seem
good to Adam. He continued. When Adam felt a need for her and called her, she
said: No! unless you go there. When he went, she said again: No! unless you eat
from this tree. He continued. They both ate from it, and their secret parts
became apparent to them. He continued. Adam then went about in
Also notice that Muhammad, in the first narration, claims that the majority of those in hell are women! This teaching of Muhammad is found in virtually all of the major hadith collections such as that of Al-Tirmidhi:
Narrated Zaynab, the wife of
Abdullah
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) addressed them saying, "You women
should give alms even if it consists of your jewellery, for you will be THE
MAJORITY of the inhabitants of Jahannam on the Day of Resurrection."
Tirmidhi transmitted it. (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith, Number 573; ALIM CD-ROM
Version)
In fact, Sahih Muslim has a whole section on this very topic:
Chapter 1: THE MAJORITY IN
Usama b. Zaid reported that Allah's
Messenger (way peace be upon him) said: I stood at the door of
Ibn Abbas reported that Allah's
Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: I had a chance to look into the
Imran b. Husain reported that
Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Amongst the inmates of
There are other Quranic passages which clearly illustrate the fact that men are above and superior to women in a more explicit manner:
And the divorced women should keep
themselves in waiting for three courses; and it is not lawful for them that
they should conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in
Allah and the last day; and their
husbands HAVE A BETTER RIGHT to take them back in the meanwhile if they
wish for reconciliation; and they have rights similar to those against them in
a just manner, and the men are A DEGREE
ABOVE THEM, and Allah is Mighty, Wise. S. 2:228 Shakir
Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one
of them TO EXCEL THE OTHER, and because
they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the
obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from
whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, AND SCOURGE THEM. Then if they obey
you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great. S.
4:34 Pickthall
Since men excel over women they have
the right to beat them if they fear any rebellion on their part. Hence, these
texts clearly state that men are in charge of women BECAUSE Allah made them to
excel women.
From the very inception of Islam men
were considered superior to women in intellect and value. Zawadi apparently
knows this so he must resort to attacking Christianity
and seems to believe that by devaluing Christianity he manages somehow to
justify Islam’s view of women. He fails to realize that his approach regarding
the Bible’s teachings also discredits his own religion since the Quran and the
hadiths emphatically and unashamedly teach that women’s minds are deficient and
they are inferior in value. Thus if the Bible does teach that women are
mentally and intellectually inferior to men then this does nothing to justify Islam’s
degrading view of women.
Yet Biblical Christianity, unlike Islam, does not degrade women but actually honors and dignifies them as image bearers of God and heirs of God’s kingdom. This leads us to 1 Peter 3:7. Zawadi claims that this text refers to a woman’s weakness in a physical sense but later on claims that it refers to a mental sense also:
It usually refers to weakness in a physical sense. However, it could also refer to weakness in a mental sense as well...
1 Corinthians 8:7,10
7But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak (asthenes), it is defiled. 10For if anyone with a weak (asthenes) conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols?
So does this mean that the wife is not only weaker physically but mentally as well? Well a well known commentator sure did think so...
and here "the weaker"; being so for the most part, both as to strength of body, and endowments of mind; (John Gills Exposition to the Bible, Commentary on 1 Peter 3:7, Source)
Response:
What Zawadi fails to inform his readers is the reason why the
Bible renders the woman as the weaker vessel. In the overall teachings of
Scripture, women are image bearers of God and heirs of God’s eternal rule,
eternal kingdom,
"Then God said, ‘Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness. And
let THEM have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens
and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male
AND FEMALE he created them." Genesis 1:26-27
"This is the book of the
generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male AND FEMALE he created THEM, and he
blessed THEM and named THEM MAN when THEY were created." Genesis 5:1-2
Here women and men were given equal
rule over everything in the universe! Neither one had a degree over another as
in the case of Islam. In fact, 1 Peter 3:7 itself says that women are co-heirs
of salvation:
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and AS HEIRS WITH YOU of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 Peter 3:7
The above verses conclusively
demonstrate that the Holy Scriptures expressly teach that woman is equal to man
in essence, value, intellect etc., since she too bears the Divine image.
Thus, if Zawadi is trying to use 1 Peter
3:7 to refute what Biblical Christianity teaches overall he has done a very bad
job. Gill is correct to mention the endowment of the mind in his comments on 1
Corinthians 8:7-10 since that text clearly mentions a person’s conscience being
weak. However it is false for Zawadi to argue from the basis of what is stated
in 1 Corinthians 8:7-10 that women are deficient in their minds when 1 Peter
NOWHERE IS HER MIND OR CONSCIENCE MENTIONED! This text never even mentioned
anything about the mind of women and strongly implies that the inspired
author’s point was that women are weaker in a physical sense, which is true for
the most part.
The reference is commanding the husbands as the physically stronger vessels to bear the infirmity of their wives and do everything in their power to accommodate and protect them!
The man isn’t allowed to beat her nor is he in charge of her like she is some mindless possession as Islam teaches. Even Gill verifies this in his commentary:
and as being heirs together of the grace of life;
not of a natural life, and the good things of it; though husbands and wives partake
of the same kind of life, and have a right unto, and share in the same
necessaries of life; so Adam and Eve were partakers of the same life, and sharers of the same benefits; and
which is a reason indeed why they ought to live lovingly together: but
something more is intended; not the external gifts of the Spirit, which, unless
in some few instances, are bestowed on men, and not on women; nor the Gospel,
and the ordinances of it, which are the means of grace and life; though men and women, called by grace, HAVE
AN EQUAL RIGHT TO THEM, and enjoy them; see (Galatians
3:28) but grace here, and glory hereafter, are here meant. Some copies, as
the Alexandrian, and others, read, "heirs together of the manifold grace
of life"; God's own people, without any difference as to sex, as men and
women, equally share in grace, as it signifies the love and favour of God;
which is the same to all the objects, as to the date of it, which is from
everlasting, one not being loved before another; and as to the quality of it,
which is free, sovereign, special, discriminating and unchangeable, one being
loved not with one sort of love, another with another; and as to the quantity
of it, it not admitting of more or less; and as to the duration, which is for
ever: and so they are heirs of it, as it denotes the blessings of grace; being
equally heirs of, and sharers in electing, redeeming, justifying, pardoning,
and adopting grace: and as it may intend the internal graces of the Spirit, as
faith, hope, and love; which as to their principles are the same in all the
saints, though different as to the degree of the exercise of them: and which
may be called "the grace of life"; or "living grace", as
some copies and the Complutensian edition read, and so the Arabic version,
because by it men and women, who were dead in trespasses and sins, are
quickened; and in distinction to counterfeit grace, which differs as much from
true grace, as the picture of a man from a living man; and because it lives for
ever, and never dies, and gives a meetness for eternal life, which it springs
up to, issues in, and is inseparably connected with. Moreover, by it may be
meant eternal life and salvation, of which the saints, without any difference
as to sex, are heirs of: so some copies read, "heirs of manifold grace,
and life"; by the former, meaning grace here, and by the latter, glory
hereafter; which is a life of vision of God, and uninterrupted communion with
him; of perfection and pleasure, and which will last for ever; and may be
called (Source)
As you can clearly see, women are equal to men and sharers of the same benefits in Christianity. In Islam men excel women and have a degree above them intellectually and in their value. Muhammad says this best here:
Narrated Qays ibn Sa'd:
I went to al-Hirah and saw them (the people) prostrating themselves before a
satrap of theirs, so I said: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) has most
right to have prostration made before him. When I came to the Prophet
(peace_be_upon_him), I said: I went to al-Hirah and saw them prostrating
themselves before a satrap of theirs, but you have most right, Apostle of
Allah, to have (people) prostrating themselves before you. He said: Tell me, if
you were to pass my grave, would you prostrate yourself before it? I said: No.
He then said: Do not do so. If I were to command anyone to make prostration
before another I WOULD COMMAND WOMEN TO PROSTRATE THEMSELVES BEFORE THEIR
HUSBANDS, because of the special right over them given to husbands by
Allah. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 11, Number
2135)
Prof. Hasan, the translator, claims that:
This shows the superiority of man
over women. The wives have been commanded to obey their husbands in respect of
lawful things. (Hasan, Sunan Abu Dawud, p. 574, fn. 1461)
Al-Tirmidhi recorded a similar narration:
Narrated Aisha
Once when Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) was with a number of the
Emigrants and Helpers a camel came and prostrated itself before him. Thereupon
his companions said, "Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) beasts and
trees prostrate themselves before you, but we have the greatest right to do
so." He replied, "Worship your Lord and honour your brother. If I
were to order anyone to prostrate himself before another, I SHOULD ORDER A
WOMAN TO PROSTRATE HERSELF BEFORE HER HUSBAND. If he were to order her to
convey stones from a yellow mountain to a black one, or from a black mountain
to a white one, IT WOULD BE INCUMBENT ON HER TO DO SO." Ahmad
transmitted it. (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith, Number 963- ALIM CD-ROM Version)
What more do we need to say on this issue? Zawadi’s argument
of a woman’s deficiency in the Bible falls flat on its face. Zawadi has
committed a false analogy by trying to read the Islamic view that women are
morally and intellectually deficient into the Christian Scriptures. A woman’s deficiency in 1 Peter 3:7 has reference only to
her physical abilities, which explains why the text exhorts the men to bear
with their wives’ infirmities and to protect them. In Islam a woman’s
deficiency refers to her mind, intellect and design which presents the male as
being superior to her in almost everyway in the sight of Allah. Authentic
Christianity considers both genders equal in their essence, in their nature,
even though one is physically weaker than the other, while Islam considers one
gender (male) better than the other in reference to intellect, mind, worth etc.