posted
This doesn't surprise me. I'd always heard that Muhammad himself greatly respected women. The tradition of the dehumanization of women in Muslim culture comes from the traditions of the pre-Islamic Bedouin culture.
I sort of did my term paper on that in tenth grade. It was interesting.
Posts: 930 | Registered: Dec 2006
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posted
I found it interesting that the word usually translated to "infidel" (related to fidelity) she felt was closer to "ungrateful".
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I encountered something like this in my Women In Religions class. The Quran is never officially translated, and all the "interpretations" have been made by scholars trained in the traditional middle eastern schools. This leads to many Muslims who aren't fluent in Arabic (and many who are) trusting the interpretations taught to them. And why shouldn't they?
But the prof showed us an excerpt related to marital conflict and how to appropriately deal with your wife. The same phrase had an entirely different meaning, with slightly different lexical choices.
Sometimes I'm convinced that Muslims have it right, and reading a text in the original language is the best way to go. And then I remember that even people who "know" Arabic are still translating in their heads, and trusting the lexical choices set out for them, and I get less certain.
There has to be a balance somewhere, but danged if I know where it is.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Religious texts are always filtered through culture--class, gender, circumstance all effect how someone reads a religious text.
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quote: I'd Really Rather You Didn't Judge People For The Way They Look, Or How They Dress, Or The Way They Talk, Or, Well, Just Play Nice, Okay? Oh, And Get This In Your Thick Heads: Woman = Person. Man = Person. Samey = Samey. One Is Not Better Than The Other, Unless We're Talking About Fashion And I'm Sorry, But I Gave That To Women And Some Guys Who Know The Difference Between Teal and Fuchsia.
posted
Largely because the flying spaghetti monster became old and beyond annoying about a microsecond after it was invented by whatever jackass invented it.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Krankykat, why, exactly, do you insinuate that having 12 wives, most of whom were, if I recall correctly, widows who he married essentially to keep them from being put out on the street as an arguement that he didn't respect women?
Posts: 1577 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by 0Megabyte: Krankykat, why, exactly, do you insinuate that having 12 wives, most of whom were, if I recall correctly, widows who he married essentially to keep them from being put out on the street as an arguement that he didn't respect women?
Widows, slaves, a Jew, and a nine year old. So says Wikipedia. It didn't say much about how they were treated in there.
I think it's interesting that the Koran puts the wife cap at four, but Muhammad was granted an exemption. By himself....?
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:Originally posted by HollowEarth: Largely because the flying spaghetti monster became old and beyond annoying about a microsecond after it was invented by whatever jackass invented it.
Perhaps to you. A fairly large number of other people have and will continue to find it amusing.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
And some are actually devout followers and don't find it amusing at all.
You figure they have to exist. There's just too many people in the world to not have at least one of everything, right?
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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