face.’’[51]
Other disquieting elements of Islamic teaching about
women and their rights include the inequality in receiving
inheritance (men receive twice as much as women; see Sura
4:11) and the various laws regarding divorce.
- What does Islam teach about divorce?
If a Muslim man is unhappy with any of his wives, he
is free to divorce them by simply saying, ‘‘I divorce you.’’
The Koran stipulates only that a man wait for a suitable
interval in order to make sure that his wife is not pregnant
(see Sura 65:1). If the divorcing couple has any children,
they ordinarily go to live with their father.
In Islam, divorce can even be brought about by a third
party. Nawal ElSaadawi, the feminist defender of Islamic
tradition cited above, almost fell victim to this when a
radical Muslim advocate brought suit to have her forcibly
divorced from her husband on the grounds that she had
apostatized (that is, formally left the faith). Presumably this
judgment was based on her pointing out that Muslim
veneration of the black stone of the Ka’aba, the center of the
pilgrimage to Mecca, was a holdover from preIslamic
paganism. Under heavy international pressure, an Egyptian
court threw the case out in the summer of 2001.[52]
Since men can obtain divorces so easily, they often
divorce capriciously. But The Koran offers some reprieve
from this oppressive law: ‘‘If a man divorces his wife, he
cannot remarry her until she has wedded another man and