Bigotry: The Dark Danger

The idea that a woman is misfortune and annuls prayer

John William Godward's oil painting “Idleness,” 1900

How can someone who lives by the fanatical mindset feel anything other than hatred for his wife, the person who should be the closest to him of all in this world?

The Apostle of God (pbuh) said: When one of you prays without a sutrah, a dog, an ass, a pig, a jew, a Magian, and a woman cut off his prayer… (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 2, Hadith 704)

Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people). (Sahih Bukhari, Book 9, Hadith 490)

Evil omen is in three things: The horse, the woman and the house. (Sahih Bukhari, Book 52, Hadith 110)

If there is any evil omen in anything, then it is in the woman, the horse and the house. (Sahih Bukhari, Book 52, Hadith 111; Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Hadith 5528)

We need to consider these fabricated hadiths in the light of the above remarks. To belittle women, whom God says He has created in the finest form, by comparing them with dogs, donkeys and pigs, and to describe them as ”evil omen”, is incompatible with the values of the Qur’an. Muslim women are blessed people, praised and shown as role models, and loved and respected in the Qur’an, and are described as blessings throughout the Qur'an.

In addition, the way that animals such as dogs and horses, which are very nice and also of much help to human beings, are described as creatures with evil omen annulling acts of worship is also a sign of the horrible manifestation of the rationale in question.

What is more, there is no such concept as fortune or misfortune in Islam; these concepts are part of polytheism. It must not be forgotten that good and evil both come from God. Nothing created has any power of its own to be either fortune or misfortune for human beings. Believing in misfortune is simply a part of the polytheistic character, and God tells us it is really those people who have ill fortune:

“... No indeed! Their ill fortune will be with God. But most of them did not know.” (Qur'an, 7:31)

Examples of the fanatic mindset that compares women to animals

John William Godward's oil painting “The Love Letter,” 1913

Fabricated hadiths encourage hatred rather than love.

The race of women consists of ten species, and the character of each (of these) corresponds and is related to the distinctive quality of one of the animals. One (species) resembles the pig, another the ape, another the dog, another the snake, another the mule, another the scorpion, another the mouse, another the pigeon, another the fox, and another the sheep. (from Counsel for Kings by Imam Ghazali)

Here we need to ask; what kind of opinion of a woman could a man who believes in such nonsense possibly have? How can he love and respect his wife? How could such a person feel anything other than hatred for the person who should be the closest to him in this world? How could he attain the love that is so important in the Qur’an if he literally regards his own wife as an animal?

He cannot, of course. Yet in the Qur’an, God speaks of the importance of love and compassion between spouses:

Among His signs is that He created spouses for you of your own kind so that you might find tranquility in them. And He has placed affection and compassion between you. There are certainly signs in that for people who reflect. (Qur'an, 30:21)

On that basis we can expand our discussion a little: Generally speaking, someone whose opinion of his wife is framed by such horrible details will doubtlessly think of his own mother, sister or daughter in the same way. His love and respect for them will be a reflection of the perspective in those false words, and his relationships with them will inevitably be based on contempt.

The description of women in the false hadiths obviously encourages hatred, rather than love. It is impossible to feel respect for the woman described in the false hadiths in question and not a word is said about love. This great emotion, which God describes as essential in the Qur’an, the love that is the whole purpose behind God’s creation of the universe, has literally been forgotten. What kind of faith is it that has so many enemies, and particularly women?

Such a faith is most definitely not the true faith in the Qur’an.

In addition, one of the most important things in the Qur’an is to hold favorable opinions of others. It is a sin to jump to conclusions without evidence and witnesses. Therefore, in the view of the Qur’an, it is wrong to think of people as “perfidious, eager for fine clothes, predisposed to steal, cunning, proud and tricky” just because they are women. It is an outrageous lie, and a sin. In order to be able to say that someone is a cheat, we need to witness their trickery and dishonesty; in order to be able to accuse someone of theft, we need to prove that they have stolen someone else’s property. In the view of the Qur’an, it is slander to make such accusations, in the absence of any evidence or witness, solely on the grounds that a person is a woman. However, the fanatics are unaware of the commandments in the Qur’an and are therefore unable to see the perverse logic in the fabricated hadiths because they live by an entirely different and false faith.