Many people are both misguided and confused regarding the treatment of women in Islam. They believe the media portrayal and they confuse Islam with the actions of men who are male chauvinist pigs. What I would like to ask them is: "Have you ever studied Islam and see for your self what it says about women? I bet one million dollars that you have not. But yet you act as an authority going from the lies posted in the media and the poor examples of Muslims portrayed by some men in the Islamic world and you say AHA THIS IS ISLAM!" Now pay attention and learn what Islam teaches about women: The Prophet Muhammad taught that the Muslim father who educates his daughters will go straight to heaven. Why would he have to say that? He was coming from a society that buried their female baby daughters alive and thought that it was only great to have sons. Also it shows the value that God places on the importance of women being educated. It shows that Islam expects intellectual contributions from women.

I don't understand why, in the West, Muslim women are clumped into one large group and viewed as homogenous clones of one another, while their Christian and Jewish counterparts are rarely ever stereotyped in this way. Many people don't realize, due largely to biased media interpretations, that there are a large variety of Muslim women around the world, from areas such as the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, Yugoslavia, Northern Africa, and the Southern parts of the former USSR, just as there are Christian and Jewish women in various countries. For instance, one probably wouldn't classify a Mexican woman with a French woman, though both may be Roman Catholics and hold the same beliefs. In the same way, American Muslim women are different from Pakistani Muslims, who are different from Saudi Muslims. In these three countries, women are accorded different rights and privileges because of the government and customs in the area. For example, many American Muslim women are discriminated against because they cover their heads; Pakistani women have political rights but are often exploited by men; Saudi women have no public role.
Does Times reporter Marlise Simons ("Cry of Muslim Women for Equal Rights is Rising," 3/9/98) really expect us to believe that the faith of Islam permits and encourages rape, killing and abandonment of children, spousal abuse, domestic violence and forced marriage? This is the almost inescapable conclusion one would draw from reading her vituperative, one-sided and apparently ideologically motivated article.

Simons assigns to Islam individual abuses and societal problems that, if the situation were reversed, she would never apply to her own culture and belief system.
When a Christian or Jewish husband beats his wife, abandons his children or commits rape, would anyone claim this is the fault of Christianity or Judaism? An ideologue might. A fair-minded journalist would not.
Just a few examples to illustrate the point: 1) Michigan State Police report that, according to the latest available statistics (1996), domestic attacks in that state resulted in 62 fatalities and 527 incapacitating injuries. (02/05/98, The Detroit News), 2) Indiana has 26 shelters for battered women; most are full most of the time. (02/01/98, The Indianapolis Star), 3) 10 percent of women in Alaska are abused by a partner each year. (12/09/97, Anchorage Daily News) 4) According to Justice Department statistics, more than 1 million American women are stalked each year. (11/14/97, USA Today)
Can we anticipate a Christianity-bashing article by Ms. Simons based on these statistics, since the majority of Americans are Christian?
As Dr. Jamal Badawi, one of North America's most respected Islamic scholars, outlines in his book "Gender Equity in Islam" (American Trust Publications), Islam grants women the right to own property, to receive child support, to face equality before the law, to participate in political affairs, to seek employment or an education, to accept or reject a marriage proposal, and to be free of spousal abuse.
Simons' article failed to quote a single source offering a defense of Islam. She could have quoted the Prophet Muhammad himself who said: "Whoever has a daughter and does not bury her alive (a pre-Islamic practice forbidden by Islam), does not insult her, and does not favor his son over her, God will enter him into Paradise."
No one questions that human rights in the so-called Muslim World are badly in need of improvement. However, to blame this sorry state of affairs on Islam is insulting and inaccurate.

As God states in the Quran, Islam's revealed text: "The believers, men and women, are protectors, one of another." (Chapter 9, Verse 71)