Paul and those like him. The men of this religion who are attributed
to Christ considered that, "The woman is filth which should be
avoided, and her beauty is the weaponof Satan." The Popes were eager
to confirm that woman was the source of evil and sin in this world.
For this reason, she should be oppressed as much as possible and
psychologically consumed under the pressure of the feelings of
disgrace and the shame of her human nature and entity.
This belief crept into Christianity from many ideas and customs from
ancient pagan religions, which considered the woman an embodiment of
wicked spirits, and consented to scorning and humiliating women, if
not exterminating them in the most brutal ways, like, for example, to
enjoin upon the woman whose husband died to burn herself afterhis
death immediately after burning his dead body.
Simone de Beauvoir stated that the contribution of the Christian creed
in persecuting woman was significant.
According to Marcuse the idea that the woman carries the perpetual
sin, to which the creed of Christianity inseparably adheres, has
strongly influenced the woman's social and legal status.
According to Denis Diderot, all life's customs and traditions, the
onslaught of popular lawand that of nature conspired against the
woman. This is because under these laws, the woman was treated as a
being that had lost its mind.
The history of the woman was written by men who took her as their
enemy from the early ages of Popedom. During the past ages of the
Roman Empire, man regarded her as a domestic animal and he had the
right to dispose of her by selling or killingher if he wished. If a
mankilled the daughter of another, he had to deliver his daughter to
them and they were free to either kill, sell or own her.
During the Germanic age, man had power over the woman. The husband had
the right to discipline his wife by beating her and was allowed to
kill his wife in case she betrayed him, and no punishment was due on
him for that.
Moreover, she was regarded as a secondary creature and the partner of
Satan in perpetual sin, which relegated her to the second rank after
man, even at the level of the church.
The People of the Book always viewed the woman as the source of sin
and the fountainheadof misdeeds and wickedness. They also saw the
woman as man's door to Hell, being the source of the movement which
leads him to sin, and from her sprang all calamities that afflicted
all mankind.
For this reason, they seized every opportunity concerning the woman to
frustrate her, even if it was related to her clothing. Tertullian
wrotean epistle in the 3 rd century CE about the woman's clothing, in
which he said, "It was more fitting for the woman to come out in a
despicable dress, and walk like Eve, lamenting her state, in regret
for what she did, so that her grief-expressing clothing would be
expiation of the shame she inherited from Eve, i.e. the original sin,
and then the disgrace of eternal destruction of humanity. The Lord
said to the woman: 'I will greatly increase your labor pains; with
pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your
husband, but he willdominate you.' Have you not learnt that every one
of you (O women) is Eve?" [Genesis 3:16]
Saint Bernard, who did his best to transmit the worship of Mary the
virgin into the church, said about his sister after she had visited
him in hismonastery wearing a new uniform , "A dirty prostitute and a
lump of dung."
The assembly of Bacon
In the 5 th century CE, the assembly of Bacon gathered to discuss
whether the woman was merely a body or a body with a soul responsible
for salvation and destruction. They decided that the woman does not
have a saved soul which could deliver her from Hell. None of Eve's
daughters was exempted from that stainexcept Maryam (Mary), may Allaah
exalt her mention.
Another assembly decided that the woman was a filthy animal
whichshould be avoided, and that she had no soul, no eternity, and the
principles of religion should not be dictated to her for her worship
was not accepted, nor would she enter Paradise and the dominion of the
Hereafter. All she had to do was serve and be a slave, with her mouth
tied up like a camel or a rabid dog to be prevented from laughter and
speech for she was the snare of Satan.
Scandals from the heart of Popedom
In his Thawrat Al-Fikr (Revolution of Thought) , Dr. Lewis 'Awad said that,
The scandals in Rome, thecentre of Popedom, wereextremely troubling.
The Catholic creed, in principle, states that menof religion never
marry, and that monks, including Popes and cardinals, make three vows
to God once they enter the gate of the church: the vow of chastity,
the vow of poverty and the vow of obedience. However, Pope Alexander
VI (1431-1503 CE), publicly and openly had three illegal children:
Cesare Borgia (1475-1507 CE), Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519 CE), and Don
Candia. The time of his predecessor, Pope Innocent VIII (pope from
1484-1492 CE), was known for severe corruption, and he was succeeded
by Alexander VI. Innocent VIII was infamous for his nepotism and
dishonesty,and he was the first popeto publicly acknowledge his
illegitimate children. He endeavored to increase the possessions of
his family, to say nothing of his selling of deeds of pardon and
terrorizing his opponentswith deprivation resolutions. Similarly, it
was the habit of all men of the church, from the greatest to the least
significant priest, to amass wealth and possess estates. The sexual
practices of ecclesiastics were visible everywhere, and regarded as
acceptable. Sexual deviation was alsonegligently overlooked.
Why did God create woman?
According to Augustine , "If what Adamneeded was only good company,
then, it would have been better to have two men living together as
friends instead of a couple that is made up ofa man and a woman."
Thomas Aquinas was also confused, like Augustine, his predecessor, as
to why God had created the woman. He wrote the following, "As for the
individual's nature, the woman is a defective creature, fitting for
contempt. That is because the efficient power of the male's semen
produces the perfect match of the malesex, while the woman is produced
from the defectiveness of that efficient power, or from body trouble,
or even as a result of an external effect."
The idea that the individual's nature in the woman is defective was
taken from Aristotle's biological opinions, according to which, the
male is the perfect type or standard pattern, and the woman is but a
defective model of man.
The woman was regarded as insignificant to the extent that Luther
said, "If women are tired or even die, it does not matter; let them
die during the operation of childbirth, because they are created only
for that."
Is woman a human being that has a soul like man?
In France, the French men of religion held a conference, i.e. the
abovementioned assembly of Bacon in 586 CE at which time the Prophet,
, was a youngman, to discuss whether the woman was to be regarded as a
human or non-human being, whether or not she had asoul, and if she did
have a soul, was it human or animal, and if it was human, was it equal
to orless than that of the man.Their final resolution wasthat she was
a human being, but was created only to serve man.
The woman is legally incompetent
According to French Post-Revolutionary Civil Law, a minor was a child,
or an insane person, or a woman. It remained so until it was modified
in 1938 CE, and it still has many restrictions on howthe married woman
should behave.
Hence, she had no right to possess any fixedestates or movable
assets,nor to open a bank account in her name, andeven after she was
allowed to open a bank account in her name, she had no right to
withdrawmoney from it by herself; rather, her husband had to come to
withdraw money for her from her account, just like what is done with
minor childrenand the insane.
Selling or lending thewife is legitimate
Until the end of the 10th century CE, there was in Britain a common
law that gave the husband the right to sell or lend his wife, or even
kill her if she had an incurable disease. If one knows that a farmer
would refuse to lend his cow to a friend, then what would he think
about the one who lends his wife to another man? Was the woman
regarded as so insignificant in their sight to the extent that they
made her inferior toan animal? Was the law intended to convert the man
into a cuckold and the woman into a prostitute? Did this law show
respect for the woman? Did this law givewoman superiority to an animal
or even a non-being? What kind of life was this law seeking for its
society and what kind of love did the church find in that law?
Pouring boiling oil over the bodies of women just for entertainment
was legitimate
In 1500 CE, a social council was formed in Britain to punish women,and
new means of punishing them were invented. Thousands of women were
burnt alive,and boiling oil was poured over their bodies merely for
the sake of entertainment.
There is no comment other than a question to be raised for
consideration: what was the position of a woman when men entertained
themselves by pouring boiling oil over her body?
Prohibition for a woman to read the Bible
During the time of King Henry VIII of England, parliament issued a
decree forbidding a woman from reading the New Testament, i.e. the
Gospel, for she was considered impure. If shewas impure for half of
her life because of menstruation in addition to seven days after every
menses, and this is why she was forbidden from holding and reading the
Bible, then what would one think about Christ, who used to enter the
privy, and during his early childhood, urinatedand excreted in his
clothes? Was a woman considered more impure than urine and excrement?
The woman had no right to citizenship
According to English common law, women, until the middle of the 19 th
century CE, were not considered "persons" or"citizens" who were
entitled to be called as such by law. They had no personal rights,
they had no right to possess the property they gained, or anything -
even the clothes they wore.
In 1567 CE, the Scottish parliament issued a decree stating that a
woman should not be given authority over anything.
The wife's price was half a shilling
Until 1805 CE, English law gave the man the right to sell his wife,
and priced her at sixpence, i.e. half a shilling. It happened that a
man sold his wife for 500 pounds in 1931 CE. In defending this
husband, his lawyer argued that in 1801 CE, English law priced the
wife at 6 pence, provided that the wife agreed on the sale. However,
the court replied that this law was abrogated by another law in 1805
CE that forbade selling or giving up wives. After deliberation, the
court ordered that the man who sold his wife should be imprisoned for
ten years.
Hadhaarat Al-Islam magazine mentioned in its second year (p.1078) that
an Italian man sold his wife in installments, and when the purchaser
did not pay the last installment, the seller killed him.
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