Islam tried to get rid of the patriarchy, and in many cases it worked. Islam put limits on how many wives a man could marry, as long as a man treated his wives equally, but being a humanistic religion, the Koran says a man will never be able to treat them equally. I believe the reason it says this is because what Islam wanted, eventually, was to have a society where men only would want to marry one woman. But if Islam imposed just one wife plus celibacy until marriage, no man at that time would convert. At that time men had harems of women, plus mistresses.

Women could divorce if they wanted to, did not have to die if their husbands died, and could remarry as many times as they wanted to. Women in Saudi Arabia and many parts of the world did not have these basic rights. After Islam, women could inherit property, buy/own/sell property, vote, and their husbands had to provide for them, while if a woman chose to work, he could not, nor his family, take anything from her. Even if a family is poor, the husband has no right to take anything that belongs to his wife. In some cases women inherit more then men, but other times men inherit more, because men have to provide in Islam. For women they can choose to work or not work.

Female infanticide was abolished. Islam did not abolish slavery, but in the Koran, it says over and over, to free a slave in order to earn good deeds or seek forgiveness from God. I think it would have been too difficult to abolish slavery because people would not convert as it would hurt their lifestyle or businesses, or so they thought. Eventually slavery ended, (but a modern form of slavery persists in the world) as people began to realize it was wrong. Slaves were given rights, a slave-master could not force himself on a female slave. And if a child was born, the child was legitimate, could inherit, and had to be treated like any other child of a man. There is no concept of a illegitimate child in Islam. Labor had rights, they had to be paid before their sweat dried. Anyone could become Muslim, ALL races were equal. Animals had rights. Children had rights, for instance once a child was a teen a parent cannot force a child to practice Islam. A young person can practice and their conviction or oath of faith is accepted if they can tell the difference between right and wrong.

Even so in 2017, some Muslim and non-Muslim societies are ignorantly against the basic concepts of Islam and human rights are abused. Sometimes Muslims treat other Muslims badly. There is such a thing as a self-hating Muslim. It’s hard to not wonder if the faith is messed up because of a few rotten apples. For instance, a lot of people question why did the Prophet marry Aisha who was so young? Here is my take on it:

Aisha was not just any girl off the street: she was the daughter of Prophet Muhammad’s best friend. His friend was rich, and from a wealthy family. What did he have to gain from the Prophet when the Prophet was poor? Nothing. Then why would a father let his daughter marry someone if he thought it was bad? He wasn’t in a unfortunate situation and Prophet Muhammad barely could give Aisha anything for the wedding. Maybe connections? Politics? Maybe. But Aisha’s father had been Prophet Muhammad’s best friend for years. He already had a solid relationship.

Aisha was the only person who was very young that he married. Everyone else, was either a widow or a divorcee. If he had a ‘thing’ for kids he could have married many more if he wanted to, but didn’t.

Prophet Muhammad, didn’t have children with any of his wives except his first whom Aisha was jealous of, even though she had died many years ago. Prophet Muhammad’s first wife was Khadija, she was 40, his boss, a widow, and SHE proposed to him when he was 25. Even in 2017 these are unusual things. He accepted her proposal and he loved her the most. He had 7 kids with her. After she died, he was devastated. He practiced contraception with his future wives because he didn’t want them to have to raise children alone as he had so many commitments. At that time, a man desired many wives, and many children, especially sons. All of Prophet Muhammad’s sons died during or after birth, so for a man of that time doesn’t it make sense that he would want a million sons to secure his future? But no he doesn’t try with any of is wives even when he was young and could easily have remarried to do so.

At that time, (we are talking about 1400+ years ago) child marriage was completely the norm, in Asia, Africa, and Europe. In Europe it happened all the time even up until the 1900s (check link). Reasons for this happening are numerous, but Islam makes a difference between forced and consent. In Islam a woman, man, or child cannot be forced to marry. But a very young person is old enough to know whether they want to marry or not, and Aisha was engaged to another man prior to Prophet Muhammad.

Aisha was a warrior, she lead a battle, she worked, she would ride camel’s/horses herself, and was a leader in the community. Long after Prophet Muhammad died she carried on as a distinguished figure in Saudi Arabia. She never said anything bad about Prophet Muhammad even after many years past his death.

Even so it is 2017, and the world has changed. I don’t agree with child marriage, but then again children are having sex. I’m not saying they should marry, but if elementary school kids are having sex, that means they have the desire. If they are sleeping with kids their age that’s one thing, but if they are sleeping with someone older then it’s bad? It’s still all bad and sad to me and this is happening in America, including the rest of the world. Talk to any doctor and they will tell you they have had a patient come in where the child was in elementary school and she was pregnant. Problems are everywhere in every society, pointing fingers won’t solve the problems. Terrorism is not a new thing and is not solely carried out by people who claim to be Muslim, but unfortunately America continues wars that will only lead to more death and destruction. In Islam indiscriminate killing is not allowed and though there are quotes of killing, that is under the context of war with very strict conditions that have to be met. People of course will have their own interpretation and will misquote the Koran in order to serve their agenda or vision of hate, including those who claim to be Muslims. It’s called politics, in the sense that if you have an enemy, isn’t it easier garner support to get rid of them if you can claim moral superiority or convince people to your interpretation of the law? Isn’t it easier to further an agenda for a country by claiming its a common threat to national security? That’s why there are so many dictators who were once Army generals who thrive on power because of a system of hatred spewed by the media to convince the masses that the dictator is needed for security and war is the only option on the table to deal with the “kafirs, terrorists, heathens, pagans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Minority XYZ, Salem Witches, etc”? In fact, in Syria, the reason Assad claims to bomb his country is because it’s been infiltrated by terrorists. Or it could be what the media in America wants us to believe is the motive for why Assad is bombing his country. Terrorism is now the blank check for getting rid of whoever you want or need.

Rulers use faith, identity, society, the constitution, nationality, money, whatever the people identify with the most, that’s what a corrupt ruler/organization/media/family/ruling elite/etc., will use to get the masses to agree to something. It’s just history repeating itself over and over, with a few changes in names, places, and faces. Some Muslim rulers or the elite class, will abuse Islam and bend the rules in their favor, but try to convince others that their interpretation is the factual one. The media in America also presents its own interpretation of Islam, in order to serve it’s own agenda And different organizations/individuals many of whom are not American and/or are from abroad have paid millions to push a negative message (check link).

There will always be a new enemy, a new war. It was Hitler, the Japanese, The North Koreans, The communists, the Russians, the…and the list will go on. After ISIS will the war end? Here’s a quote:

“The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.” George Orwell
English essayist, novelist, & satirist (1903 – 1950)

T.