The Quran and sunni traditions categorize women as property which men own and whom they have taken captive to be their prisoners in the home. This is why men have the authority to beat women whom they fear are being rebellious:

Your women ARE A TILLAGE for you; so come unto your tillage AS YOU WISH, and forward for your souls; and fear God, and know that you shall meet Him. Give thou good tidings to the believers. S. 2:223 Arberry

You have rights over your wives and they have rights over you. You have the right that they should not defile your bed and that they should not behave with open unseemliness. If they do, God allows you to put them in separate rooms AND BEAT THEM but not with severity. If they refrain from these things they have the right to their food and clothing with kindness. Lay injunctions on women kindly, FOR THEY ARE PRISONERS WITH YOU HAVING NO CONTROL OF THEIR PERSONS. You have taken them as a trust from God, and you have the enjoyment of their persons by the words of God, so understand… (The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes by Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi, Tenth impression 1995], p. 651; emphasis mine)

Narrated Amr ibn al-Ahwas al-Jushami

Amr heard the Prophet say in his farewell address on the eve of his Last Pilgrimage, after he had glorified and praised Allah, he cautioned his followers: ‘Listen! Treat women kindly; THEY ARE LIKE PRISONERS IN YOUR HANDS. Beyond this you do not owe anything from them. Should they be guilty of flagrant misbehaviour, you may remove them from your beds, and BEAT THEM but do not inflict upon them any severe punishment. Then if they obey you, do not have recourse to anything else against them. Listen! You have your rights upon your wives and they have their rights upon you. Your right is that they shall not allow anyone you dislike, to trample your bed and do not permit those whom you dislike to enter your home. Their right is that you should treat them well in the matter of food and clothing. Transmitted by Tirmidhi. (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith, Number 104 https://www.alim.org/hadith/tirmidi/104/; emphasis mine)

The Book of Miscellany

(34) Chapter: Recommendations with regard to Women

‘Amr bin Al-Ahwas Al-Jushami reported that he had heard the Prophet saying on his Farewell Pilgrimage, after praising and glorifying Allah and admonishing people, “Treat women kindly, they are LIKE CAPTIVES in your hands; you do not owe anything else from them. In case they are guilty of open indecency, then do not share their beds and beat them lightly but if they return to obedience, do not have recourse to anything else against them. You have rights over your wives and they have their rights over you. Your right is that they shall not permit anyone you dislike to enter your home, and their right is that you should treat them well in the matter of food and clothing”.

[At- Tirmidhi, who categorized it as Hadith Hasan Sahih].

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 276

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 276 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:276; emphasis mine)

Women are further placed on the same level with dogs and asses:

Narrated ‘Aisha:
The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, “Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey AND A WOMAN (if they pass in front of the praying people).” I said, “You have made us (i.e. women) dogs. I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away, for I disliked to face him.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 9, Number 490 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:511)

(50) Chapter: The Height Of That Which Serves As A Sutrah For The One Who Is Praying

Abu Dharr reported: THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH SAID: When any one of you stands for prayer and there is a thing before him equal to the back of the saddle that covers him and in case there is not before him (a thing) equal to the back of the saddle, HIS PRAYER WOULD BE CUT OFF BY (passing of an) ASS, WOMAN, AND BLACK DOG. I said: O Abu Dharr, what feature is there in a black dog which distinguish it from the red dog and the yellow dog? He said: O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil. (Sahih Muslim, Book 004, Number 1032 https://sunnah.com/muslim:510a)

Abu Huraira reported: THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH SAID: A WOMAN, AN ASS AND A DOG DISRUPT THE PRAYER, but something like the back of a saddle guards against that. (Sahih Muslim, Book 004, Number 1034 https://sunnah.com/muslim:511)

Muhammad also compared a woman to a crooked rib that cannot be straightened out:

The Book of Miscellany

(34) Chapter: Recommendations with regard to Women

Abu Hurairah reported:

Messenger of Allah said: “Take my advice with regard to women: Act kindly towards women, for they were created from a rib, and the most crooked part of a rib is its uppermost. If you attempt to straighten it; you will break it, and if you leave it alone it will remain crooked; so act kindly toward women”.

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

In another narration of Al-Bukhari and Muslim, Messenger of Allah said: “A woman is like a rib, if you attempt to straighten it, you will break it; and if you benefit from her, you will do so while crookedness remains in her“.

In another narration of Muslim, Messenger of Allah said: ‘Woman has been created from a rib and will in no way be straightened for you; so if you want to benefit from her, you will benefit from her while crookedness remains in her. If you attempt to straighten her, you will break her, and breaking her is divorcing her“.

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 273

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 273 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:273; emphasis mine)

Note carefully the implications of Muhammad’s statements. Just like a rib is crooked, so is a woman. And just as it is useless to try to straighten out a rib since it will break, it is equally useless to attempt to straighten out a woman since she is crooked by design, by her very nature!

Basically, Muhammad is saying that women are deficient by nature, since to be crooked isn’t a good thing!

In fact, this is precisely the same conclusion that the translator of the Salafi version of the Riyad comes to:

Commentary: The words (Istawso bi’ nisa’) mean, take care of your wives. Whatever is the formation of the words of the Hadith, it stresses the importance of kind treatment to wives because woman is not only weaker than man by nature, BUT ALSO LESS INTELLIGENT. On account of HIS BEING MORE INTELLIGENT and having greater patience, man should be more forgiving in his dealing with her. The secret of a pleasant family life lies in this advice of the Prophet with its emphasis on kind treatment to wives. (Riyad-us-Saliheen, compiled by Al-Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf An-Nawawi Ad-Dimashqi, commentary by Hafiz Salahuddin Yusuf, revised by M.R. Murad [Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, Riyadh, Houston, New York, Lahore, First Edition: June 1999], Volume I, p. 268; emphasis mine)

This helps us appreciate why Muhammad stated that women are the most harmful trial confronting men:

The Book of Miscellany

(35) Chapter: Husband’s rights concerning his Wife

Usamah bin Zaid reported:

The Prophet said, “I am not leaving behind me a more harmful trial for men than women“.

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 288

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 288 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:288; emphasis mine)

That’s not all. Muhammad taught that a woman’s salvation is dependent on her husband being pleased with her. Otherwise, she will never enter paradise and her prayers will never be accepted in case her husband is angry and annoyed by her:

The Book of Miscellany

(35) Chapter: Husband’s rights concerning his Wife

Umm Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported:

Messenger of Allah said, “Any woman dies while her husband is pleased with her, she will enter Jannah“.

[At- Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan].

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 286

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 286 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:286; emphasis mine)

Narrated Umm Salamah

Allah’s Messenger said, “Any woman who dies when her husband is pleased with her will enter paradise.”

Tirmidhi transmitted it. (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith, Number 958 https://www.alim.org/hadith/tirmidi/958/; emphasis mine)

Narrated AbuUmamah

Allah’s Messenger said: There are three people whose prayer does not pass beyond their ears: the runaway slave till he returns; the woman who spends night in a state in which her husband is annoyed with her; and the leader of the people, whom (they do not like).

Tirmidhi transmitted it and said: This is a gharib hadith. (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith, Number 344 https://www.alim.org/hadith/tirmidi/344/; emphasis mine)

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas

The Messenger of Allah said: There are three people whose prayer does not ascend beyond their heads, even to the length of a span: the person who leads people in prayer despite their disapproval; a woman who spends the night (in a state) in which her husband is annoyed with her; and the two brothers who are estranged.

Transmitted by Ibn Majah. (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith, Number 347 https://www.alim.org/hadith/tirmidi/347/; emphasis mine)

This is why a woman must rush to have sex with her husband, since if she fails to do so Allah will be displeased with her and the angels will curse her till the morning:

The Book of Miscellany

(35) Chapter: Husband’s rights concerning his Wife

Abu ‘Ali Talq bin ‘Ali reported: Messenger of Allah said, “When a man calls his wife to satisfy his desire, she must go to him even if she is occupied with the oven“.

[At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa’i, Imam At-Tirmidhi classified it as Hadith Hasan Sahih].

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 284

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 284 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:284; emphasis mine)

The Book of Miscellany

(35) Chapter: Husband’s rights concerning his Wife

Abu Hurairah reported:

Messenger of Allah said, “When a man calls his wife to his bed, and she does not respond and he (the husband) spends the night angry with her, the angels curse her until morning“.

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

In another narration:

The Messenger of Allah said, “When a woman spends the night away from the bed of her husband, the angels curse her until morning“.

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

In another narration:

Messenger of Allah said, “By Him in Whose Hand is my life, when a man calls his wife to his bed, and she does not respond, the One Who is above the heaven becomes displeased with her until he (her husband) becomes pleased with her“.

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 281

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 281 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:281; emphasis mine)

Even the heavenly maidens destined to wed Muslim men curse any earthly wife that displeases her husband!

The Book of Miscellany

(35) Chapter: Husband’s rights concerning his Wife

Mu’adh bin Jabal reported:

The Prophet said, “Whenever a woman harms her husband in this world (that is without any due right), his wife among the (Houris in Jannah) says: ‘You must not harm him. May Allah destroy you! He is only a passing guest with you and is about to leave you to come to us“.

[At-Tirmidhi, who classified as Hadith Hasan].

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 287

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 287 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:287; emphasis mine)

In fact, men are so much better and greater than women that Muhammad would have demanded that wives bow down in prostration to their husbands if he could!

The Book of Miscellany

(35) Chapter: Husband’s rights concerning his Wife

Abu Hurairah reported:

The Prophet said, “If I were to order anyone to prostrate himself before another, I would have ordered a woman to prostrate herself before her husband“.

[At-Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan Sahih]

Reference: Riyad as-Salihin 285

In-book reference: Introduction, Hadith 285 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:285; emphasis mine)

Narrated Aisha

Once when Allah’s Messenger was with a number of the Emigrants and Helpers a camel came and prostrated itself before him. Thereupon his companions said, “Messenger of Allah beasts and trees prostrate themselves before you, but we have the greatest right to do so.” He replied, “Worship your Lord and honour your brother. If I were to order anyone to prostrate himself before another, I SHOULD ORDER A WOMAN TO PROSTRATE HERSELF BEFORE HER HUSBAND. If he were to order her to convey stones from a yellow mountain to a black one, or from a black mountain to a white one, IT WOULD BE INCUMBENT ON HER TO DO SO.”

Ahmad transmitted it. (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith, Number 963 https://www.alim.org/hadith/tirmidi/963/; emphasis mine)

Narrated Qays ibn Sa’d:

I went to al-Hirah and saw them (the people) prostrating themselves before a satrap of theirs, so I said: The Apostle of Allah has most right to have prostration made before him. When I came to the Prophet, I said: I went to al-Hirah and saw them prostrating themselves before a satrap of theirs, but you have most right, Apostle of Allah, to have (people) prostrating themselves before you. He said: Tell me, if you were to pass my grave, would you prostrate yourself before it? I said: No. He then said: Do not do so. If I were to command anyone to make prostration before another I WOULD COMMAND WOMEN TO PROSTRATE THEMSELVES BEFORE THEIR HUSBANDS, because of the special right over them given to husbands by Allah. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 11, Number 2135 https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2140)

The translator of the aforementioned hadith admits that:

This shows the superiority of man over women. The wives have been commanded to obey their husbands in respect of lawful things. (Sunan Abu Dawud, English translation and Explanatory notes, by Prof. Ahmad Hasan [Sh. Muhammad Ashraf Publishers, Booksellers & Exporters; Lahore, Pakistan, 1984], Volume II, p. 574, fn. 1461; emphasis mine)

The earliest extant biography on Muhammad quotes him as telling women that even they were to lick the blood and pus of their husbands’ nostrils this still wouldn’t be enough to discharge their duties to them!

‘Abdullah b. Abu Bakr told me that he was told that when the apostle sent Mua’dh he gave him instructions and orders and then said: Deal gently and not harshly; announce good news and do not repel people. You are going to one of the people with scripture who will ask you about the key of heaven. Say to them it is the witness that there is no God but Allah, Who has no partner. Mua’dh went off to Yaman and did as he was ordered and a woman came to him and said, ‘O companion of God’s apostle, what rights has a husband over his wife?’ He said, ‘Woe to you, a woman can NEVER fulfil her husband’s rights, so do your utmost to fulfil his claims as best as you can.’ She said, ‘By God, if you are the companion of God’s apostle you must know what rights a husband has over his wife!’ He said, ‘If you were to go back and find him with his nostrils running with pus and blood and sucked until you got rid of them you would not have fulfilled your obligation.’ (Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, p. 644; emphasis mine)

And here is what renowned Sunni Muslim scholar and philosopher Al-Ghazali wrote in respect to the status of women:

(1) If the husband wants to enjoy her body, she should not refuse. The Prophet said: If the wife of a man dies while he is pleased with her, she will enter Paradise. The Prophet said: When a woman prays five times a day, fasts the month of Ramazan, saves her private parts and obeys her husband, she will enter the Paradise of her Lord. The Prophet said about the women: They bear children, give birth to children and show affection to children. Even though they do not come to their husbands, they will enter Paradise if they pray. The Prophet said: I peeped into Hell and found that the majority of its inmates are women. It was asked: Why, O Messenger of God? He said: They take recourse to much curse and deny relatives. There is another Hadis: I peeped into Paradise and found that there are a few women there. I asked: Where are the women? He said: Two things of reddish colour stood as a stumbling block against them- gold and Zafran (ornaments and varied dresses). Once a girl came to the Prophet and asked: I don’t want to get married. The Prophet said: Yes, get married and it is better. A woman of Khasham tribe once came to the Prophet and asked him: I want to marry, but what are the rights of the husband? He said: When he wants her, she will not refuse it even though she remains on a camel’s back. She will not give anything of his house in charity without his permission. If she does it, she will commit a sin and her husband will get rewards. She will not keep optional fast without his permission. If she does it and becomes hungry and thirsty, it will not be accepted from her. If she goes out of his house without his permission, the angels curse him[sic] till she returns to his house or till she repents. The Prophet said: When a woman stays within her house, she becomes more near to God. Her prayer in the courtyard of her house is more meritorious than her prayer in mosque. Her prayer in a room is better than her prayer in her courtyard. The Prophet said: A woman is like a private part. When she comes out, the devil holds her high. He said: There are ten private parts of a woman. When she gets married, her husband keeps one private part covered; and when she dies, the grave covers other parts. The duties of a wife towards her husband are many, two out of them are essentially necessary. The first one is to preserve chastity and to keep secret the words of her husband and the second thing is not to demand unnecessary things and to refrain from unlawful wealth which her husband earns. (Imam Ghazali’s Ihya’ ‘Ulum-Ud-Din (The Revival of Religious Learnings) [Improved Edition], translated by Al-Haj Maulana Fazal-Ul-Karim [Sh. Muhammad Ahsraf Publishers, Booksellers & Exporters, Lahore-Pakistan, Reprinted 2000], “Secrets of Marriage”, Book II, pp. 42-43; bold emphasis mine)

If this weren’t disturbing enough notice the following attributed to Ali ibn Abu Thalib, the fourth Muslim caliph who was both Muhammad’s first cousin and his son-in-law:

O’ ye peoples! Women are deficient in Faith, deficient in shares and deficient in intelligence. As regards the deficiency in their Faith, it is their abstention from prayers and fasting during their menstrual period. As regards deficiency in their intelligence it is because the evidence of two women equal to that of one man. As for the deficiency of their shares it is because of their inheritance being half of men. So beware of the evils of women. Be on your guard even from those who are (reportedly) good. Do not obey them EVEN IN GOOD THINGS so that they may not attract you to devils. (Nahjul Balagha-Peak of Eloquence, translated by Syed Ali Reza [Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc. Publishers and Distributors of Holy Qur’an, Elmhurst NY, sixth edition 1996], p. 204; bold and capital emphasis mine)

These comments are believed to be taken from some of his lectures that were then compiled together.

So much for the claim that Muhammad and his god dignified and honored women!

FURTHER READING

Women in Islam: [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3], [Part 4]

Did You Know That Muhammad Was A Misogynist?

Women in the Bible: [Part 1], [Part 2]

Doesn’t the Bible degrade women, placing them on the level of animals and possessions?

Do You Know What Paul Really Taught About Women Obtaining Salvation?

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