Reply to Science channel's "Biblical Mysteries Explained"

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[quote=Anonymous]NP--I still don't see what this oath of loyalty had to do with voting rights.  The contention is that by engaging in the oath women agreed to be loyal to Mohammed as leader of the Islamic state unless he betrayed certain principles, in which case they could withdraw their pledge.  This sounds like what we call voting with one's feet, which I don't think anyone would confuse with electoral voting.

It seems to me that women were allowed to make the pledge if they agreed to certain conditions like not fornicating but men were not. This sounds very tribal to me--you can become part of our tribe as long as you don't embarrass us.  It was special for women because typically women were part of either their father's tribe or their husband's tribe and could not switch tribes.  It was hard for men, but doable.  The early Islamic community, however, offered a tribe for women to switch to even if they had husbands.

This was in itself pretty extraordinary, and I would guess the Islamic community needed to make sure these women would not disgrace them.  It is a long Arab tradition that women bear the honor of the tribe, and wrong moves on their part bring dishonor to the tribe, which is to be avoided at all costs.  Thus, no fornicating, number one bringer of dishonor on a tribe (and still today).  Also, for good measure, no lying or stealing or slander or disobeying the leader, Muhammed, who no doubt became their substitute male guardian.  The women in essence lived in their new tribe, the Islamic community, under his protection, unless of course they married a Muslim male.

Male converts did not present all these social pitfalls that women did, and, thus, likely did not have to agree to all these conditions in making their pledge of loyalty.  The honor of a tribe does not rest upon its male members.

So in sum, Islam provided a way for women to join a new tribe on her own.  This was remarkable for the time.  There really is no need to embellish upon this and say that it gave women voting rights.[/quote]

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