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Is Man Superior to Woman in Islam?
Mohammad M Rahman
Well, this question in itself will label me as sexist, deviant misogynist freak. I have been already
judged as misguided, deluded and distanced from Islam when I have asked this question. This is
because the time is for feminism and Muslim mind is colonized which reads Islam as much as
the colonized mind steers it.
There was once a time when science was abused for white ethnic supremacy which at that time
was seen as white racial supremacy. How far we have come since then when objective unbiased
observation has refuted the existence of any race or supremacy based on such. Feminism is
going through that period of supremacy but one day, by God, the correct hierarchical positions
of the sexes will be universally accepted. Even though the scientifically measured truth is out
their people still do not see
1
.
I have written a paper on gender and need for patriarchy based on scientific literature which
clearly favors man
2
. This means, for atheists, nature preferred man over woman as part of
natural evolutionary hierarchy
3
. Reasons we have this perception of man-woman equality as a
trend: fear of injustice against woman, feminist greed for power and finance, and achieving
sexual freedom. We cannot address and solve these or achieve these by proposing equality
because that is against nature and religion.
Today many “not-so-informed” Islamic scholars are proposing the concept of “equality is not
similarity” nonsense. It is just semantics but if you see it closely equality can also be similarity. If
man and woman is biologically and psychologically similar, then they are biologically equal for
example. I will give them the satisfaction of holding equality and similarity as different if they
1
Rahman, M. M. (n.d.). A Handbook of Psychological Research with Policy Implication. Www.academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/87975090/A_Handbook_of_Psychological_Research_with_Policy_Implication
2
Rahman, M.M. (2021). Why Society Needs Patriarchy: A Scientific and Social Justification. Social Sciences, [online]
10(5), p.229. Available at: http://www.socialsciencesjournal.org/article/202/10.11648.j.ss.20211005.14 [Accessed
16 Oct. 2021].
3
Rahman, M. M. (n.d.). A Handbook of Psychological Research with Policy Implication. Www.academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/87975090/A_Handbook_of_Psychological_Research_with_Policy_Implication
meant by this equality in rights and non-similarity in biology and psychology. However, in Islam
man and woman is neither equal in rights nor in biology and psychology. In fact, the non-
equality in rights stems from non-similarity in biology and psychology.
Islam and nature have given man superior position, so they are not equal and neither similar
overall. In some respects, they may be equal and similar but overall, they are not. The reason is
God’s will and God’s vision of human existence on earth. Humanity is supposed to establish
God’s rule and authority over earth and that is achieved by a hierarchical organization best
suited for our life and evolution
4
.
Is it unfair that God made man superior to woman? Is it unfair that Prophet is superior to rest of
the mankind? Is it unfair that there may be other creatures superior to mankind
5
? No, they are
not because our possession of things by which superiority and inferiority are measured do not
result in injustice because ultimately what matters is our salvation in hereafter and every soul
man or woman has equal access to this irrespective of their spiritual or material possessions.
Think of a university dean who has equal access with that of a student to the university library
even though the dean is superior overall in the ontology of the university.
Every Muslim must first know that God’s inherent blessings are not to be rejected and envied.
Woman rebelling God’s blessings on man is like when Azazel/Iblees rebelled mankind’s
superiority over the Djinn. So, man being the stronger sex is God’s inherent blessing over man.
Inherent blessings are those blessings which cannot be earned by worship and effort such as
being a prophet, or state of sinlessness or being a man etc. God says:
“And wish not for the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others.” (Quran 4:32)
“…Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other…(Quran 4:34)
4
Rahman, M. M. (n.d.-b). Why Islamic Texts Propose Male Dominance (Patriarchy). Www.academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/94667820/Why_Islamic_Texts_Propose_Male_Dominance_Patriarchy_
5
“…and preferred them [mankind] over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference.” (Quran 17:70)
"…And the male is not like the female
6
…”. (Quran 3:36)
As I said man and woman can be apparently equal or similar in somethings, what this means is
in specific instances of their existence and activities they are apparently equal or similar. For
example, Man and woman both breathes, man and woman both sleeps, man and woman both
can earn spiritual reward etc. However, when we go down deeper into the specific ontology of
the sexes and specific instances we may find they are not same or equal. For example, man and
woman is different in their breathing
7
, sleeping
8
and even worship
9
.
I want to add further to the discussion of worship. I have proposed elsewhere
10
that under the
same environmental variables, context and circumstance men will most of the times excel
women in psychological and physical capacity. I will add spiritual capacity here as well. Let’s
take example of worship. According to the hadith I mentioned and this principle a scenario
where a man and woman with normal health free of known sicknesses and with performing
similar spiritual acts in the same interval, same frequency and same devotion will establish the
spirituality superiority of man over woman. This is because at some point of their worship
under the same environmental assumptions, woman must take break from worship which will
see man go ahead of her.
6
Rahman, M. M. (n.d.-a). A Handbook of Psychological Research with Policy Implication. Www.academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/87975090/A_Handbook_of_Psychological_Research_with_Policy_Implication
7
LoMauro, A. and Aliverti, A. (2018). Sex differences in respiratory function. Breathe, [online] 14(2), pp.131–140.
Available at: https://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/14/2/131.
8
Mallampalli, M.P. and Carter, C.L. (2014). Exploring Sex and Gender Differences in Sleep Health: A Society for
Women’s Health Research Report. Journal of Women’s Health, [online] 23(7), pp.553–562. Available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4089020/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2019].
9
The Prophet of Islam said: “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 304)
10
Rahman, M.M. (2020). The Islamic Society: The Sociological Perspective, Section “The Inequality of Sexes and
Gender”. www.academia.edu. [online] Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/45005183/The_Islamic_Society_The_Sociological_Perspective [Accessed 16 Oct.
2021].
If someone says Islam holds back woman and oppresses her, I will ask such a person what has
woman achieved through feminism? Feminism has only created hatred and animosity between
man and woman
11
which is expressed, among other things, through diminishing marriages,
increasing divorces
12
and a far-reaching impact on society and the demography. One may say
there is no study affirming my claim but if you have studied the nature and agenda of
Feminism
13
you will surely agree with me.
What feminism has also done is made women economically exploitative commodity. In my
book/article “Political and Legal Systems of Islam”
14
, I have discussed how such is the case. For
example, feminist capitalism by proposing equality of rights they have failed to better the
economic situation of women. Corporations want a vast source of affordable workaholic labor
which feminism offers and designs for. By this they also want to achieve the feminist matriarchy
agenda breaking families apart and preventing people from family-oriented lifestyle towards
career-oriented lifestyle creating a new social order based on sexual freedom, productivity
enhancement and materialistic hedonistic self-esteem seeking individualism. So, in order to
maximize pool of labor and diversify skills they have used the ideology of feminism. Feminism is
thus an extension of corporatocracy. You won’t hear feminists calling for equality in the dirty,
dangerous, or low paid jobs that men do. They are always after the positions of power and
authority that they can then use to realize matriarch corporatocracy.
If women and society were marriage and family oriented, it would not be possible, because
then we would be needing a welfare model to support families and women who would stay
home specially who are with children and relationship would have been prioritized. However
11
Rahman, M. M. (n.d.-b). Feminism: The Genesis of Degradation of Family. Www.academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/47785751/Feminism_The_Genesis_of_Degradation_of_Family
12
Rahman, M.M. (2020b). Secularized Self-Destructive World. www.academia.edu. [online] Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/44800885/Secularized_Self_Destructive_World [Accessed 16 Oct. 2021].
13
Rahman, M.M. (2020a). A Criticism of Feminism. www.academia.edu. [online] Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/47785751/A_Criticism_of_Feminism
14
Rahman, M. M. (n.d.-c). Political and Legal System of Islam. Www.academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/60559324/Political_and_Legal_System_of_Islam
feminist capitalism, by pushing women to stressful employment has helped us know that
women are more vulnerable to mental diseases
15
.
Ending this short discussion, I will say that man is superior to woman in Islam and in nature.
Islam has given equitable rights, duties, and responsibilities for both man and woman as part of
God’s hierarchical human organization on earth to achieve the divine purpose of familial
intimacy, dependency, love, chastity and loyalty. Both man and woman complement each other
just as leadership and the “led/ruled” complement each other. The sooner Muslims and world
accept the divine and natural social construct the better is for the Muslim and humanity.
15
Rahman, M. M. (n.d.-a). A Handbook of Psychological Research with Policy Implication. Www.academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/87975090/A_Handbook_of_Psychological_Research_with_Policy_Implication