Reply to Be Wary of Racism and Islamophobes

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I don't know which sura/verse Muslima quoted but if its the one about a woman declaring her oath of allegiance to the Prophet, that is often used in support of the fact that Islam granted women political choices and their opinion counted. It may not show "voting" rights per se, but it shows women were granted the right to align themselves with whatever ruler they wanted. This verse shows they were politically relevant. 
 [/quote]

So you've just agreed it's not about voting per se.  Why did you two get angry when people say that? The surah she quoted as "giving women voting rights" is not about them at all.  It's about women (Muslim women!) from a warring tribe being able to join Muslims in Medina if they meet a very long list of conditions. They have to :

a) be strict monotheists (do not associate anything with Allah)
b) not steal
c) not sleep with anyone they're not supposed to
d) not kill their children
e) not slander
f) not have children with someone else and pretend it's their husbands, and 
e) be disobedient.

And if all of these conditions are met, they are allowed to  move to Medina where Muhammad ruled.

I don't see anything approaching voting rights in this.  It's a background check for new immigrants. Have you ever heard of any preconditions for voting? Are MEN ever asked to prove any of this before pledging allegiance?

Mind you, I'm agnostic on whether Islam gives women voting rights or not. Who knows what it does. What we can say with certainty that the particular verse posted in support of this notion does at all extend women the right to vote in this particular verse.  Why do you get angry when this is pointed out?[/quote]

That verse Muslima quoted is often quoted to show that Islam made women's political allegiances and oaths relevant. No one compelled them to take the oath. And their oath counted. Contrast this with how women were typically regarded at the time in other cultures and in pre Islamic times or even in the US until recently. In other cultures and in pre Islamic times, women's political opinions, oaths, allegiances were irrelevant, only their husbands or fathers political opinions, oaths, or allegiances counted or mattered.

A political oath or allegiance may or may not be a vote. If the individual seeking power has yet to acquire that power, the political oaths of others to him IS very much like a vote. If enough people give that individual their political oath, he will attain power. If, however, that individual already acquired power, and has become the new ruler,  political oaths of people may be similar to a request for citizenship, or a request for asylum, or a show of yet more votes that would ensure keeping that individual in office.

For example, when it was clear that Obama won the Presidential election in his first term, the rest of the remaining ballots were still counted and were still relevant. The total count of ballots represents the degree of support Obama had.

[/quote]

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