Adam and Eve is hardly fair to her. It is said that God first created
Adam, and then, out of his rib, He created Eve. The rib is crooked
and so devout men were quite prepared to admit the same
crookedness in the nature of woman. The sequel of the story shows
that woman is not only crooked but also weak. She quickly
succumbed to the seductions of Satan and tempted Adam into sin.
The story of Adam and Eve, in which Eve plays the role of a
temptress, is widely believed in throughout the Christian world. The
attitude of the Christians towards women is, therefore, tinged with
fear and hostility. To preserve their purity, devout men thought it
necessary to avoid all contact with women. Marriage was looked
upon as a necessary evil. Celibacy came to be regarded as a virtue.
Woman was a hindrance to spiritual progress so, at least the priest,
whose sole concern was the soul, had to remain unmarried.
Such ideas have been in vogue for centuries and, until recently,
were to be found in all parts of the world. The Qur'an completely
changed man's attitude towards woman. It placed the relation
between man and woman on a basis of equality, exalting neither
over the other. The Qur'an does not say that man was created first
and so has precedence over woman. It tells us that for every one, life
originated from a mono-cell. The distinction between male and
female came at a later stage, and when it appeared, both of them
were very much there:
God created you from a single life-cell and from it created its mate (for
man a woman and for woman a man) and from them twain, has spread
abroad a multitude of men and women (4:1).
Thus, in the matter of creation, neither had any preferential
treatment; nor was woman responsible for man's first act of
disobedience and his consequent expulsion from paradise. Both are
said to have been led astray by Satan (2:36). According to the
Qur'anic view, man and woman are equally capable of following the
right path and equally liable to fall into destructive ways. Of course,
they are not absolutely the same: in some things men are superior
while in others women surpass them. It is a necessary consequence
of the fact that their roles in life are complementary to each other.
They are equal in worth although different in particular qualities:
God has so created you that one excels the other (in certain respects)
(4:34).
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