Al Razi as quoted by Haqq and Newton, "the male share is that of two females. Man is more perfect than woman in intelligence, in religious sphere, suitability to be a judge and leadership in worship. The testimony of man is twice that of woman’s". Tohaffa says "God established the superiority of men over women" (Q 4:34). "Get two witnesses, if there are not two men, then a man and two women" (Q 2:282). In Arabic woman is called "awrah" meaning a thing to be ashamed of. Orthodox Jewish men on getting up in the morning say "thank god I am not a woman- or so I was told by Jewish friends in Brooklyn, NY in the 1970s). Prayer of the woman in the house is better than her prayer in the mosque (Haqq and Newton). Imam Ghazali "an ideal woman is the one who remains in her private quarters and never neglects her spindle". Righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in husband’s absence what Allah would have them guard. (Q 4;34). The spatial division according to sex reflects the division between those who hold authority and those who do not (Mernissi). For men four marriages were allowed along with permission to keep slave women (that your right hand possess Q 4:3) To ensure paternity of children with in marriage there is a waiting period (Idda) for divorced or widowed woman during which they may not have sexual or social interaction with other men. Idda predates Islam. Traces can be found during Hammurabi and Roman periods. There is no direct imposition of requirement of virginity for unmarried girls in the Quran or Hadith, but the way it is eulogized in the Quran in luxuries of paradise where eternally virgin women would be made available to pious men. (In Hindu folk lore four brothers go on a hunt and find a girl and bring her back. They want to surprise their mother and tell her that they have brought a gift for her. The mother tells them that she is old, what would she do with gifts and they were to share it amongst themselves. They had to honor mother's word and all four brothers married the girl. When visiting her they used to leave their wooden slippers outside the door to warn off the other three. She used to regain her virgin hood after every visit. Firaq Garakhpuri, a renowned Urdu poet irreverently composed the following: "hazar bar zamana edher sai guzra hai nai nai si hai teri rahguzar phir bhi" Many have passed through the track, but it is till pristine. Various punishments for transgression of the requirement of chastity like confinement to house till death, flogging with hundred lashes are prescribed. 80 lashes are awarded to person launching a false charge on chaste women. To ensure paternity Islam declared zina (adultery) as the gravest crime and reintroduced Idda. Islam has neither condemned nor endorsed genital mutilation for the purpose of suppression of sexual desires. Encouraging child marriage is another strategy to ensure virginity. Determination of paternity could only be ensured by controlling woman's womb. Being insecure and helpless against the biological reproductive superiority and natural command of woman's knowledge about paternity of her child, men invented tools to ensure it. (Not sure of the claimed paternity, on the Day of Judgment, Allah will call every one with their mother's name).
Mernissi compares and analyzes the philosophy of two early Muslim scholars Imam Ghazali and Qasim Amin and two non-Muslim scholars Freud and Murdoch "in societies in which seclusion of women prevails, the implicit concept of female sexuality is active, in societies when this not so, the concept of female sexuality is passive" (51). Uncontrolled female sexuality is thought to create fitna (public evil) in Muslim society and imbalance in the family is called nushuz (private rebellion). Mernissi opines that the entire Muslim social structure can be seen as an attack on and a defense against the disruptive power of female sexuality.
The socio-religious context in both non-Muslim West and Muslim Afro-Asia led to control and curb of females in a similar manner. As a result women became a commodity. There is a direct connection between the charges against immoral and defiant women and the list of religious commands and social devices to control women's bodies and sexuality. This environment existed in non-Muslim countries till less than a hundred years ago.
