rom: Muslim
adam3@netcom.com>Why are you not just as offended that in the Qur'an the word of a woman in court (as a witness) is only worth half the word of a man? Is this not equally degrading to the female half of the population? Both is a "half value statement" IF it is a statement about value at all.
Bearing witness
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QURAN, 2:282:
O Beleivers, when you contract a debt for a fixed term,
you should put it in writing....
.....And let two men from among you bear witness to all
such documents. But if two men are not available,
there should be one man and two women to bear
witness so that if one of the women forgets (anything),
the other may remind her ......
First of all, this applies ONLY to FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS where a debt contract is being put together in writing. Two men are required as the witnesses. But if they're not available then one man and two women, so that if one woman FORGETS something, the OTHER may REMIND HER, not because she's inferior, or her witness is less wrothy of a man.
Enemies of Islam abuse the meaning of this verse to try to harrass Muslims and defame Islam by saying, "This means one man, is equal to two women." Or they say, " In all Islamic courts, women's witnesses are worth half of a man's."
Both of the above allegations are false. If the woman as a witness was worth half that of a man, the verse would have STATED so clearly. But obviously that is not the case. Instead, the reason for 2 women and 1 man as witnesses is that if one woman FORGETS, the other may remind her.
Bearing a witness in an Islamic society is a burden. No Muslim desires to be a witness AGAINST another Muslim, unless it becomes incumbent upon him/her, if required by law. By having two females, as opposed to one female, further protection and encouragement for women is given, to bear witness. Women in an Islamic society are usually not invovled in employment, business transactions, and other such out-of-the-house positions. However, if they desire, they can do so, but most Muslim women prefer to stay inside thier homes. In such a society, a woman is not an expert in business transactions, and is thus prone to forgetfullness. Thus this verse protects the parties in FINANCIAL contracts. And at the same time, gives women another peer to make them more comfortable in bearing and giving witness against a party. Counter-intuitively, this verse actually protects the women and the parties involved in FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS.
[Below is comparative religion discussion between Bible, and Quran]
============================================================= from ISLAMIC DAWA NET
Women in Islam VS Judeo-Christian Tradition
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Bearing witness ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another issue in which the Quran and the Bible disagree is the issue of women bearing witness. It is true that the Quran has instructed the believers dealing in financial transactions to get two male witnesses or one male and two females (2:282). However, it is also true that the Quran in other situations accepts the testimony of a woman as equal to that of a man. In fact in some cases the woman's testimony can even invalidate the man's. If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, he is required by the law (in Quran) to solemnly swear five times as evidence of the wife's guilt. If the wife denies and swears similarly five times, she isn't considered guilty and in either case the marriage is dissolved (24:6-11).
On the other hand, women were not allowed to bear witness in early Jewish society . Women in Today's Israel are not allowed to give evidence in Rabbinical courts because the Talmud says: "Women are temperamentally light-headed" . The Rabbis, also, justify why women can't bear witness by citing Genesis 18:9-16, where it is stated that Sara, Abraham's wife had lied. The rabbis use this incident as evidence that women are unqualified to bear witness. It should be noted here that this story narrated in Genesis 18:9-16 has been mentioned more than once in the Quran without any hint of any lies by Sara (11:69-74, 51:24-30).
If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, her testimony will not be considered at all according to the Bible. The accused wife has to be subjected to a trial by ordeal (Numbers 5:11-31). In this trial, the wife faces a complex and humiliating ritual which was supposed to prove her guilt or innocence. If she is found guilty after this ordeal, she will be sentenced to death. Also, if a man takes a woman as a wife and then accuses her of not being a virgin, her own testimony will not count. Her parents had to bring evidence of her virginity before the elders of the town. If the parents couldn't prove the innocence of their daughter, she would be stoned to death on her father's doorsteps. If the parents were able to prove her innocence, the husband will only be fined one hundred shekels of silver and he must not divorce his wife as long as he lives (Deuteronomy 22:13-21). Why should the poor woman live with the man who slandered her in public for the rest of his life?
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