world religionsThe traditional inferior status of women in Islam involves disadvantages
for women in issues such as marital infidelity and divorce. A husband needs
no justification for divorce, having the right to repudiate his wife at any
time. This right is not accorded to the wife, although she is allowed to
divorce her husband when she adopts Islam and he fails to convert. The
right of custody of the children goes to the father. An important innovation
in the Qur’an is the permission for women to inherit and own property,
although there is no community property between a husband and wife.
The Islamic tradition depicts Muhammad as allowing women to pray
with him and declaring that women could go to the mosque regularly if
their husbands permit. After the rise of the legal tradition, legal scholars
rule that women cannot pray in a mosque with men, and they are expected
to rather pray at home, whereas women participate fully with men in all
activities of worship and prayer in the early community in Medina. With
respect to women in the public sphere, the Qur’an does not state that
women should completely cover themselves, and it does not affirm any-
thing about face veils, although women of pre-Islamic Arabia wear veils
in the urban areas and remain unveiled in the desert. There is, however,
evidence of Muhammad commanding his wives, daughter, and the wives
of believers to wear long veils in public, although the practice becomes
more widespread during the period of early conquests when Muslims are
coming into contact with other religious cultures. The particular evidence
might be different, but it is possible to find similar examples of the infe-
rior status of women in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism,
as evident in classical Chinese and Islamic cultures.Further reading: Falk and Gross (1980); Holm and Bowker (1994); King (1987,
1995); Mernissi (1991); Sharma (1987)WORLD RELIGIONS
The notion of world religions is a recent development that begins around the
late nineteenth century, and it owes its origin to scholars of religion, during
the period of colonialism and Western domination and exploitation of Third
World countries. It also develops during the period of comparative reli-
gion, a scholarly activity reflecting a Christian bias and feelings of religious
superiority. In order words, other religions are compared to Christianity with
the purpose of demonstrating their inferior nature. This concept also hides
a Christian and European universalism under a new banner because a
Christian and European viewpoint represent the standard by which other