contemporary Muslims and some of the“punishments”associated with violating any
of the laws. Many people in the West (and many in the Muslim community) believe
that these laws violate basic human rights, particularly when applied to the treatment
of women and those people being punished for what would be considered minor
crimes by Western standards. The second half of the controversy is a relatively new
one. Simply stated, there is now a belief among some Americans that these laws will
find their way into non-Muslim countries. Currently, seven states and numerous com-
munities in the United States have proposed laws actually saying that Sharia law
requirements could not be imposed on non-Muslims.^159 Muslims, of course, see Sharia
law differently. They turn to the actual meaning of the Arabic wordSharia(“a clear
path”) to help explain its importance in the life of all Muslims. For them, the“path”
is a series of mandates that benefits humanity by offering people structure, specific
guidelines, and a divine connection to the past.Gender
Although we discussed gender and Islam as it applied to families in Chapter 3, we
now look at the religious aspects of this topic. The subject of gender is difficult to
examine because it is emotional, controversial, and subject to a high degree of ethno-
centrism. Much of the heated rhetoric is coming from non-Muslims. In addition, the
role of Islamic women is also undergoing significant changes. When these factors are
combined, it is difficult to study the tie between gender and Islam objectively. It
appears that“A priori assumptions, preconceptions, and stereotypes regarding Middle
Eastern women abound, and generalizations about women in a region as internally
diverse as the Middle East continue to predominate in current discourse.”^160 Part of
the confusion, both within and outside the Islamic world, stems from the fact that the
Koran (as well as other religious teachings) offers a variety of interpretations on the
subject of women. Those who support a traditional and strict reading of the Koran
point to 4:34, which states,“Men are superior to women on account of qualities
with which God has gifted the one above the other, and on account of the outlay
they make from their substance for them.”Many Muslims take this passage to mean
that men are stronger than women physically as well as mentally and morally. Mani-
festations of this belief can be seen in numerous circumstances. For example, among
Muslims, the illiteracy rate is much higher for females than it is for males.^161 In addi-
tion, according to Islamic tradition, women cannot teach men,“so Muslim women
who have trained in the ways of the Koran teach only girls and other women.”^162
In spite of these different perceptions and interpretations of the role of Islamic
women, worldwide attitudes regarding gender roles in many Islamic countries are in
a state of flux. All of the changes seem to have one thing in common: Muslim
women do not want outside forces to dictate the rate of change or the content of
those changes. Esposito and Mogahed quote a series of Gallup polls revealing that
“While admiring much about the West, the majority of Muslim women do not
yearn to become more like their Western counterparts. While they favor gender par-
ity, they likely want it on their terms and within their own culture”^163 In places such
as Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia,
women are actively protesting and defining those terms.
This section on Islam and gender ends reminding you of two points. First, when
observing any cultural difference, it is important that you do not allow ethnocentrism
to direct your evaluation. As an“outsider,”you are applying Western models to the136 CHAPTER 4•Worldview: Cultural Explanations of Life and Death
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