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[quote=Muslima][quote=Anonymous][quote=Muslima] [b]So, what happens to the woman with NO male relatives and NO inheritance of any substance? [/b][/quote]

The question posed was about inheritance, not about widows who dont have relatives or any substance. That is a pretty illogical question given that of course someone who doesn't have money or any family to rely on will get a job  if they can and want. Otherwise, they become the responsibility of the islamic state and the muslims in that state to a greater extent. Islam is not an individualistic society like the West. The wellbeing of each and every Muslim is the responsibility of all in the state.[/quote]

OK. But you just finished telling us how Islam institutionalizes 1/2 rights for women in testimony and financial transactions. Also, as you pointed out yourself, there's a pervasive cultural attitude that women are under men's "protection" instead of autonomous. How do these things affect women's ability to function as equals in the workplace? [/quote]

There are several verses in the Qur’an that discuss witnesses, without any reference to gender; some of these verses fully equate the testimony of males and female. The only verse in the entire Qur'an to equate the testimony of two women to that of one man is the so-called verse of debt (ayat al dayn), which occurs in Qur'an 2:282.

'O ye who believe! When ye deal with each other, in transactions involving future obligations in a fixed period of time, reduce them to writing Let a scribe write down faithfully as between the parties: let not the scribe refuse to write: as Allah Has taught him, so let him write. Let him who incurs the liability dictate, but let him fear His Lord Allah, and not diminish aught of what he owes. If they party liable is mentally deficient, or weak, or unable Himself to dictate, Let his guardian dictate faithfully, and get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her ..'

Part of Verse 2:282 which happens to be the longest verse in the Qur’an addresses this issue of women's testimony. This relatively long verse addresses fourteen diverse commandments regarding monetary transactions with long-term maturities in a society of illiterate people who had to employ the services of witnesses in lieu of receipts and written transactions. The spirit and aim of this verse is the registration and recordation of transactions and prevention of oblivion and possible denial on the part of the parties involved. However, in our time, with the majority of the population being literate and the existence of public institutions for maintaining records, no Muslim will seek a witness for non-monetary transactions, rather by using checks, promissory notes, money orders, credit cards,  ect...will implement the spirit and purpose (not the apparent meaning) of the verse. Verse 2:282 was revealed at a time when women spent their time a home and had no role in economic affairs and no interest or knowledge of accounting, bookkeeping, and monetary transactions. This is definitely not the case today![/quote]

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