Woman between Islam and Western Society

been subjected to alterations and additions. Its present form is no longer as the prophets originally taught it. Along with prophetic inspiration, it has received a fair injection of human interpolation. For this reason, one cannot rely on explanations given in the Bible, nor is it proper to explain verses of the Qur’an in the light of biblical statements. Neither in the verse of the Qur’an quoted above, nor in any other verse of the Qur’an, is there any mention of Eve having been created from Adam’s rib. The Qur’an says only that Eve was created from “it.” What this “it” refers to is the point in question. Most of those commentators who have penetrated deep into the meaning of the Qur’an have taken “it” to refer to “species”: Eve was created — not from Adam himself — but from the same species as Adam. This is the explanation given — among others — by Abu Muslim Asfahani, and it is this explanation that fits in with other verses of the Qur’an. In several verses of the Qur’an the word for “soul” (nafs) has been used to mean “species.” Such verses provide a clear elucidation of the verse quoted above. A selection of them is given here: God has created for you spouses, of your own kind.34 And of His signs is that He has created for you — of your own kind — spouses, that you might take comfort in them.35 Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you spouses of your own kind, and the cattle He has also created in pairs.36 From a perusal of these verses, one can see that the same word has been used for the spouses of ordinary human beings as was used for Adam’s spouse in the verse quoted above. Just as Eve was created from Adam’s nafs, so other women have also been created from the same nafs — or kind — as their male counterparts. Clearly there is no question, in these other verses, of inferring that every female spouse has been created from the body of the male. There is no alternative but to take the word nafs, occurring in these verses, as meaning ‘kind.’ God has created for you spouses of your own kind, the Qur’an is telling us, in order that they may provide you with true companionship in your journey through life. To summarize, women and men are from the same species. Biologically speaking, women have not been extracted from the bodies of their male counterparts. God fashioned them according to His Will, just as He fashioned men in accordance with His Almighty Will and Power. SAYINGS OF THE PROPHET Now we come to certain sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, in which the Arabic word dil ‘has been mentioned for the word “rib.” The first thing that has to be remembered here is that these traditions are about ordinary women, and do not refer to the creation of Adam and Eve. It is the manner of every woman’s creation that is being dealt with, not