Women in Islam vs Women in the Gospel — The Contrast That Cannot Be Ignored

The Arabic text and key phrase:
الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ
"Men are the protectors and maintainers (qawwamun) of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other..."

The disputed portion — "wa-dribuhunna":
Surah 4:34 continues: "As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, and (last) beat them (wa-dribuhunna). But if they return to obedience, do not seek means against them."

What classical Islamic scholars say about wa-dribuhunna:
The word daraba is used throughout the Quran and Arabic with a range of meanings. However:
— Ibn Kathir (major classical tafsir): "Allah said, (and beat them), meaning, if admonishing and ignoring their beds do not produce the desired results, you are allowed to beat them lightly (dharban ghayra mubarrih), and without causing injury or leaving a mark."
— The hadith context: Sahih Bukhari 7:72:715 records multiple hadiths about men beating their wives, and Muhammad himself stating: "He should not beat her face and should not beat in a way that would leave marks on the body."
— The four Sunni law schools all accept that a husband may strike his wife as a last resort — with the qualification that it should not leave marks.

Contrast with Jesus (John 8:1-11):
When scribes and Pharisees brought a woman "caught in adultery" to Jesus — and the LAW commanded stoning — Jesus said "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." One by one they left. Jesus asked: "Has no one condemned you?" "No one, Lord." "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." Jesus stopped a legal execution of a woman that the Law and religious authorities demanded. He showed mercy and dignity where the system showed condemnation.

Sahih Bukhari 1:2:28:
"O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women). They asked, 'Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle?' He replied, 'You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you.'"

Sahih Bukhari 1:6:301:
"Once Allah's Apostle went out to offer the prayer of Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, 'O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women).' They asked, 'Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle?' He replied, 'You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you.'"

What "deficient in intelligence and religion" means in hadith:
Sahih Bukhari 1:6:301 continues: "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man? They replied in the affirmative. He said, 'This is the deficiency in her intelligence.'"

Contrast with Jesus:
Luke 8:2-3 records that Jesus had women disciples who "were providing for them out of their resources" — women in his inner circle with respected roles. The first resurrection witnesses were women (all four Gospels) — in a culture where women's testimony was legally inferior, Jesus chose women as the first witnesses to the most important event in history. Luke 10:42: Jesus defended Mary's right to sit at his feet as a disciple (the posture of a student receiving rabbinic instruction) when Martha expected her to be in the kitchen.

Testimony — Surah 2:282:
"And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [available], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses — so that if one of the women errs, the other can remind her."

One man's testimony = two women's testimony. The reason given is that women are prone to error and forgetfulness — as Muhammad also explains in the hadith above.

Inheritance — Surah 4:11:
"Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females."
A son inherits twice what a daughter inherits. This is not a cultural recommendation — it is explicitly "Allah's instruction."

Polygamy — Surah 4:3:
"And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four."
Men may have up to four wives simultaneously. Women may have only one husband. Muhammad himself received a special exemption from this limit (Surah 33:50), having 11-13 wives. The unequal application of marriage law is built into the Quran itself.

Divorce — Triple Talaq:
Under classical Islamic law (though some schools now restrict this), a man can divorce his wife by saying "talaq" (I divorce you) three times — the marriage is immediately dissolved. A woman cannot divorce her husband through this method; she must either negotiate a release (khul) or go through a religious court.

Contrast — Paul's revolutionary statement (Galatians 3:28):
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Written in the first century, in a patriarchal Greco-Roman world, Paul declares the complete ontological equality of men and women in Christ. This did not immediately transform all social structures — but it planted the seed that eventually produced the Western view of gender equality. The Islamic framework, by contrast, has built inequality into its foundational texts in ways that Islamic scholars themselves acknowledge cannot be abrogated.

1 — Mary Magdalene: a woman "from whom seven demons had gone out" (Luke 8:2):
In first-century Jewish society, a demon-possessed woman would have been considered ritually impure, socially outcast, and spiritually hopeless. Jesus healed her and included her in his traveling company. She became the first witness to the resurrection — chosen by Jesus himself to be the first herald of the most important event in history.

2 — The Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:7-27):
Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman (doubly excluded — both Samaritan and female) alone, in public, and engaged her in the most extended theological conversation recorded in the Gospels. His disciples "marveled that he was talking with a woman" (John 4:27). Jesus broke two cultural barriers simultaneously — ethnic and gender — to bring her the living water.

3 — The woman with the flow of blood (Mark 5:25-34):
A woman ceremonially unclean for 12 years touched Jesus's cloak and was healed. Instead of recoiling from the ritual impurity or dismissing her anonymously, Jesus stopped the crowd, found her, and publicly said "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace." He gave her a public identity, a blessing, and dignity — exactly what her condition had robbed her of for 12 years.

4 — The woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11):
Already documented above — Jesus stopped a legally mandated execution and restored her dignity.

5 — Women as first resurrection witnesses (all four Gospels):
This detail is historically embarrassing — first-century Jewish law did not accept women's testimony in capital cases. A fabricated resurrection story would have chosen male disciples as first witnesses. The persistence of women as first witnesses across all four independent Gospel traditions is a mark of historical authenticity. Jesus deliberately chose women to be first — communicating that in his kingdom, women are equal witnesses to the most important truth.