We now move to Surah 2, and begin with verse 282, where it says that in court the testimony of a woman is half of that of a man, suggesting that women, once again, are seen as less equal than men. According to the Islamic traditions, when Aisha, the wife of Muhammad, heard this, she asked Muhammad why there was this inequality, and he responded by saying that this was because women were more disobedient and less intelligent.
How do women feel about this statement? One cannot say today that women are less intelligent, at least not when they look at standardized testing for high schoolers; as girls outperform the boys in every category, proving that when they are given the chance girls, and likewise women, are not only equal to men, but often better than men, at least in intelligence, providing they are given equal access to education; something which would have not been the case in 7th century Arabia.
Thus, this verse is simply not relevant for today at all.
Another difficult verse for Muslims in Surah 2 is verse 223, where it says that a wife is a ‘tilth’ for her husband, who can ‘till’ her (i.e. plow her sexually) when and where he wants. Today we would call this ‘marital rape’, and it would be seen as abhorrent.
Thank God we have verses in the Bible which say just the opposite. In 1 Corinthians 7:4 it is clear that a woman’s body is equal to her husband’s body, so that neither one can have exclusive control over the other’s body.
In Ephesians 5:25 Christ is compared to the Church as a husband to his wife, and just as Christ was willing to lay down his life for the Church, so should a husband be willing to lay down his life for his wife; quite a corrective to this horrible verse in the Qur’an.
With verses like these two, it is no wonder that we can categorically claim that the Qur’an just is not relevant for today, or any day, and not relevant or even appropriate for me, or you, or anyone, anywhere, or at any time!
© Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2019
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