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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Re: Islam and female infanticide.  There are several verses in the Quran denouncing infanticide in suras 6 and 7.  But the verses are not specific to female infanticide, but rather to infanticide of boys and girls (the male plural for children is used).

There is a reference to a girl buried alive in the Quran, but it is in an apocalyptic sura that describes the end of days--when the sun is wrapped in darkness, when female camels are neglected (the last thing a nomadic Arab would ever do as female camels provide milk, vital for human sustenance in the desert), etc  One of the signs of the end of days in this sura (81) is when a girl who was buried alive is asked what sin she committed (81:8-9).  One thus cannot take 81:8-9 as a prohibition of female infanticide specifically.  It is rather part of a poetic rendering of the seemingly impossibly things that will happen at the end of days.

Some modern Muslim like to say that Islam values women highly because it outlawed female infanticide, ergo Islam values women and elevates their status.  Then they point to other obscure verses like the ones about consultation and the oath of allegiance of the Medinan women to bolster their case, wringing meaning out of them that was not intended.  Those who do this are making anachronistic arguments by trying to read the Quran through the lens of today where much of the world accepts the equality of women.

By pointing to these verses, they hope to show how Islam treats women equally despite their unequal treatment in matters of divorce, inheritance, etc.

But the fact remains, the starting argument for all this--that Islam specifically prohibited female infanticide--is in error.  Islam prohibited infanticide of both male and female children. (A good thing in itself to be sure.)

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Please refer to the Quran, Sura 16 Al Nahl verse 57-59, which does forbid specifically FEMALE INFANTICIDE:

" And they assign daughters for Allah! Glory be to Him! And for themselves (sons - the issue) they desire!
When news is brought to one of them of the birth of a female child, his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief!
With shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad news he has had! [b]Shall he retain it on sufferance and contempt, 
or bury it in the dust? Ah! What an evil choice they decide on![/b]"

So the Quran does specifically forbid female infanticide or will you now argue that the above verse doesn't explicitly forbid it?

Please also see http://www.infanticide.org/history.htm. Laila Williamson, anthropologist for the American Museum of National History wrote about infanticide generally. It appears she validates the fact that female infanticide took place before the time of Muhammad and she interprets the same verse differently than you. Here is what she said about infanticide in pre islamic  Arabia:

"Sexism was particularly prominent in Arabia before the time of Mohammed (570?-632 AD). The Persian world was a very paternalistic society, and females were generally seen as an undesirable burden to a family struggling to survive. A common proverb held that it was "a generous deed to bury a female child." [b]Nevertheless, the Koran, which collected the writings of Mohammed, introduced reforms that included the prohibition of female infanticide. Mohammed outlined the wrongfulness of infanticide in various sections of his holy scripture. He asked, with censure ' for example, how would a father account for his actions, "When the female child that had been buried alive shall be asked for what crime she was put to death?"[/b] "

If this does not convince you, then please read Malcom Russell's book, "The Middle East and South Asia 2014," in which the author states, "On balance, scholars agree that Muhammad raised the status and condition of women, in part by rigidly punishing adultery as well as condemning the practice of female infanticide."

More evidence that Islam did indeed improve the status of women. See http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/ed_advisors.html. Oxford Islamic Studies Online brings together the work of the world's leading scholars to provide users with the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative online resource in the field. What it states about Islam contradicts your assertion completely:

"With Islam, the status of women improved considerably. The Qur'an and the sunnah emphasized the spiritual equality of all Muslims. "

So…are you interested in the truth or are you only interested in misinterpreting the Quran to make Islam look bad?

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