Instruments of Love and Harmony #4

From Zenit.org comes Final Statement of Catholic-Muslim Forum "Called to Be Instruments of Love and Harmony"
For background information about the meetings, see this Reuters article of 11/06/08.

The statement includes an enumerated list of fifteen points which present a target rich environment In this installment, I'll take on the fourth point of agreement.[Links & emphasis added.]

We affirm that God's creation of humanity has two great aspects: the male and the female human person, and we commit ourselves jointly to ensuring that human dignity and respect are extended on an equal basis to both men and women.

Taken at face value, the fourth point means that the Muslims participating in the meeting accept the concept of gender equality. By so doing, they would sever themselves from Allah and become apostates.

Allah said "Your wives are a tilth for you". World Reference defines tilth as: "cultivated land, farmland, plowland, ploughland, tilled land,". Ibn Kathir affirms the fact that 2:223 is a proscription of anal intercourse. According to Ibn Abbas, "the vulvas of your wives are plantations for your offspring". It is clear that Islam values women for reproductive capacity. Is the land a farmer tills equal to him? Does it share his dignity? Unless he is a slave, sharecropper or renter, it is his property.

An-Nisa' 34 is generally cited as divine permission for wife beating but I want to point out its masculine supremacism.

• 4:34. Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband's absence what Allah orders them to guard (e.g. their chastity, their husband's property, etc.). As to those women on whose part you see ill­conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful), but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great.
  

There can be no doubt that the Muslima's role is subordination & submission. In the third installment of this series, I pointed out the fact that Muslimas receive only half an inheritance and their testimony is weighted as half that of a male's.
Moe taught that women are deficient.

• The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion." [Bukhari 1.6.301]

Either the Muslim participants in the forum are contradicting Allah and his Messenger or their affirmation of equality is insincere. Which is it?

Click this link for A Common Word between Us and You, which precipitated the recent meetings. [Note the Events section, a recent addition to the page]. A Common Word's home page includes a summary, the missive, media reports, blog posts and various responses from Christian & Jewish leaders. Click this link: Islamic Extortion Letter for my original dissection of the missive or this link: Go Burn With Muhammad, a blog devoted to dissecting the missive and reactions to it.